Joel Blechinger
Assistant Professor/Librarian
Contact
Joel Blechinger
Assistant Professor/Librarian
jblechinger [at] mtroyal.ca / bleching [at] ualberta.ca
Mount Royal University
About
I am currently an Assistant Professor/Librarian at Mount Royal University Library in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
I am an early career librarian with a growing passion for library instruction. At the undergraduate level, I have taught in Public Relations, Criminal Justice Studies, Business, Anthropology, Indigenous Studies, Social Work, Sociology, and General Education.
My professional and scholarly interests include:
• Critical information literacy, specifically the ACRL's Framework's Authority frame
• Philosophy of information
• Theory and history of documentation and library and information science
• Conspiracist psychology and information behaviour, specifically as manifested in QAnon
• Labour and information work
• Scholarly and media piracy
In my spare time, I enjoy reading, blogging about music, cooking, running, and cross-country skiing.
I am an early career librarian with a growing passion for library instruction. At the undergraduate level, I have taught in Public Relations, Criminal Justice Studies, Business, Anthropology, Indigenous Studies, Social Work, Sociology, and General Education.
My professional and scholarly interests include:
• Critical information literacy, specifically the ACRL's Framework's Authority frame
• Philosophy of information
• Theory and history of documentation and library and information science
• Conspiracist psychology and information behaviour, specifically as manifested in QAnon
• Labour and information work
• Scholarly and media piracy
In my spare time, I enjoy reading, blogging about music, cooking, running, and cross-country skiing.
Education
My educational background is in English literature.
In 2013, I graduated with my Bachelor of Arts (High Honours, Co-Operative Education) from Luther College at the University of Regina. This included the completion and defence of my honours thesis, "William H. Gass’ The Tunnel: Three New Critical Avenues," supervised by Dr. Michael Trussler.
In 2016, I went on to pursue my Master of Arts (With Distinction) at Concordia University in Montréal, Québec. Reflecting my burgeoning interest at the time in the Digital Humanities and media theory, my major research project was entitled "The Politics of Interface: A Comparative Reading of Concordia University Library’s Discovery Search Interface and the Sci-Hub Interface" and was completed under the supervision of Dr. Darren Wershler.
I then studied for my MLIS at the University of Alberta from 2018 to 2020. I was a research assistant for two different projects at the University of Alberta: Stylometry Without Words with Dr. Harvey Quamen, and AdArchive with Dr. Jana Smith Elford and Dr. Michelle Meagher.
A highlight of my time at the University of Alberta was being able to undertake a directed study course on the history of information literacy dating back to its origins in the work of Paul G. Zurkowski with Dr. Michael McNally. The culmination of this directed study was a presentation that I gave at the Politics of Libraries speakers series in 2021 on QAnon, authority, and information literacy.
While at the University of Alberta, I also contributed audio essays and interviews to the student-run radio show/podcast, Shout! For Libraries, that airs on CJSR-FM. All of my work for radio can be found on the "My Work & PD" page of this website under the section "Podcast segments."
MLIS, University of Alberta, 2021
MA (With Distinction), English, Concordia University, 2018
BA (High Honours, Co-Operative Education), English, University of Regina, 2013
In 2013, I graduated with my Bachelor of Arts (High Honours, Co-Operative Education) from Luther College at the University of Regina. This included the completion and defence of my honours thesis, "William H. Gass’ The Tunnel: Three New Critical Avenues," supervised by Dr. Michael Trussler.
In 2016, I went on to pursue my Master of Arts (With Distinction) at Concordia University in Montréal, Québec. Reflecting my burgeoning interest at the time in the Digital Humanities and media theory, my major research project was entitled "The Politics of Interface: A Comparative Reading of Concordia University Library’s Discovery Search Interface and the Sci-Hub Interface" and was completed under the supervision of Dr. Darren Wershler.
I then studied for my MLIS at the University of Alberta from 2018 to 2020. I was a research assistant for two different projects at the University of Alberta: Stylometry Without Words with Dr. Harvey Quamen, and AdArchive with Dr. Jana Smith Elford and Dr. Michelle Meagher.
A highlight of my time at the University of Alberta was being able to undertake a directed study course on the history of information literacy dating back to its origins in the work of Paul G. Zurkowski with Dr. Michael McNally. The culmination of this directed study was a presentation that I gave at the Politics of Libraries speakers series in 2021 on QAnon, authority, and information literacy.
While at the University of Alberta, I also contributed audio essays and interviews to the student-run radio show/podcast, Shout! For Libraries, that airs on CJSR-FM. All of my work for radio can be found on the "My Work & PD" page of this website under the section "Podcast segments."
MLIS, University of Alberta, 2021
MA (With Distinction), English, Concordia University, 2018
BA (High Honours, Co-Operative Education), English, University of Regina, 2013
