Carolyn Klotzbach-Russell: At the Intersection of Information and Impact

by DENISE WOLFE

When most people think of a university librarian, they picture someone helping students find books. For Carolyn Klotzbach-Russell, a member of the University at Buffalo Libraries Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences Information Team, the role looks quite different—and that's exactly how she likes it.

A subject librarian and liaison to UB's School of Management and the departments of Sociology and Criminology, Economics, and Political Science, Klotzbach-Russell also serves as UB's government information librarian and Federal Depository Library Program coordinator—a role that has taken on heightened urgency in recent years.

"Ensuring continued access to historical and current government information is a core responsibility," she said. "The landscape, requests and projects are so varied and evolving."

That evolving landscape has kept Klotzbach-Russell busy. Through her work with the American Library Association's Business Reference and Services Section, she recently helped organize a virtual publisher's forum examining how vendors incorporate government data into their products—and how a shifting political environment is shaping their priorities.

Her commitment to civic engagement extends beyond data access. Along with Mary Kamela, student support and engagement librarian, and Austin Waters, student services librarian at the Law Library, Klotzbach-Russell is co-author of an accepted chapter in the forthcoming Association of College and Research Libraries publication "The Practical Literacies Cookbook," which spotlights UB's voter education workshop. She and Kamela also have a poster presentation accepted for ALA Annual that highlights their collaboration with the UB Votes Committee around Voter Registration Day.

"Voter awareness and education are causes I feel strongly about," Klotzbach-Russell said. "It's been incredibly rewarding to see that work grow into research and presentations we can share with the broader library community."

Community impact drives much of Klotzbach-Russell's work. She and colleague Bryan Sajecki, social sciences, student support and instruction librarian, currently support the College in Prison Program at Wende Correctional Facility, which gives incarcerated individuals the opportunity to earn a bachelor's degree in sociology through UB.

Klotzbach-Russell earned degrees in history and computer information systems from SUNY Fredonia in 2011 before pursuing her Master of Library Science at UB, which she completed in 2013. She then worked as a sales and marketing specialist at SofTrek, a Buffalo-based company that developed fundraising software for nonprofits, before joining the UB Foundation as a research analyst in 2016 and the Libraries in 2019 as a social sciences librarian.

Klotzbach-Russell's research also extends to the profession itself. She is a co-author of a forthcoming article in the Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship analyzing five years of job ad and salary data for academic business librarians.

Outside the office, she balances life with twin toddlers alongside passions for genealogy, creative writing, gardening and gaming—and she'll happily talk about Dungeons & Dragons or Renaissance festivals at length, given the opportunity.