New Head of Langson Reference Cyanthia Johnson

The UCI Libraries recently welcomed Cynthia Johnson as the new Head of the Langson Library Reference Department. “I’m very excited and happy to be at UC Irvine because I love reference and I love the research process,” said Johnson. “Being in an environment which values user services and has access to such an enormous amount of research material, both online and in print, can only thrill someone like me.”

Johnson comes to UCI from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, where the academic programs focus on art, design, architecture and the liberal arts. She held the position of Director of Reader Services for the Library, in charge of reference and circulation services. Cynthia also served as Acting Head of Libraries, which expanded her experience to include oversight for multimedia and visual resources services. Earlier in her career, Johnson was a reference and instruction librarian at Barnard College in New York City.

Johnson’s professional distinction was recently recognized by her receipt of the 2006 Association of College and Research Libraries Women’s Studies Section Award for Significant Achievement in Woman’s Studies Librarianship. She and a colleague were honored for having transformed the Women’s Core Book Lists into a database that is a major tool to assist librarians in building Women’s Studies collections.