Michael Wells

Michael Wells became Library Director at Wilmington College in 2022. Prior to this role, he served as the Library Director/Copyright Officer at Thomas More University. He has also worked as the Systems Librarian at Northern Kentucky University, the Library/IT Director at the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science, and as the Manager of the Center for Information Management at Miami University (Ohio).

He is a graduate of Kent State University with a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Capital University with a Bachelor of Arts and holds an Associate of Technical Study from Sinclair Community College in Geographic Information Systems. In 2017, he was the winner of the EBSCO Charleston Conference Scholarship, and was also nominated that year for the Frederick G. Kilgour Award for research in libraries and information technology.

Michael is a husband and father of three children, an avid amateur radio operator, and long-distance runner in his spare time. In May 2022, Mike was elected to serve a one-year term as a Commissioner on the South Lebanon (Ohio) City Charter Commission, and currently volunteers on the South Lebanon Records Commission.

Memberships:
- Association of Christian Librarians (ACL)
- Academic Library Association of Ohio (ALAO)
- Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL)
- National Museum of the US Air Force Foundation

Research Interests:
- Examining the role of academic libraries in support of teaching and learning faculty services on campus.
- Leveraging support of “Friends of the Library” groups in public and academic libraries.
- Enhancing website user experience (UX) in small academic libraries by using Matomo Analytics for better site design.
- Exploring the role of libraries in ending political polarization.
- Examining the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in research to support the needs of neurodiverse students.

Selected Publications:
Andrea Falcone (2020) Perspectives on Public Services, International Information & Library Review, DOI: 10.1080/10572317.2020.1746028
Article Title: "Bringing a Small Academic Library Back from the Brink" - Michael Wells, MLIS

Wells, Michael D. (2018) “WSPRing Pi” and the Solar Eclipse. CQ Amateur Radio Magazine: Vol. 74, Iss. 3 Feature Article 4.

Wells, Michael D. and Rosenbeck, Craig (2016) The Crossroads of Embracing Content Management: Using the BeagleBone Black Microcomputer to Host Omeka. Advances in the Study of Information and Religion: Vol. 5, Article 5. Available at: https://digitalcommons.kent.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir;=1&article;=1045&context;=asir

Wells, M. (2014). Doing Good with a Slice of Pi: Ideas for Using the Raspberry Pi as a Low-Cost Information Platform in Libraries. Christian Librarian, 57(2), 102–108

Recent Presentations:
June 2023 Poster Presentation Association of Christian Librarians (ACL) National Conference, Cedarville University Cedarville, Ohio. “ Hopeful Books Week: Providing a Literary Light in a Dark World."

April 2023 – Panel Presentation – 2023 SOCHE Library Conference, “Facing Challenges and Creating Opportunities: How Academic Libraries are Being Reshaped” w/ Craig Person (University of Cincinnati), Crissy Ross (Cincinnati State), Ione Damasco (University of Dayton). (https://www.soche.org/event/2023-soche-library-conference/)

November 2022 – Program Presentation – 2022 Charleston Conference, “The Polarization Antidote: How a Method for Comparing News Sources, and an Understanding of Bias, Can Counteract Divisiveness.” with Harleen Kaur (Ground News) and Michael Walmsley (Baker & Taylor).

October 2019 – Program Presentation – Kentucky Library Association (KLA) Conference, “Open to a New Era: Koha as the Strategic Foundation to a Library Re-conception.” with Jessica Zairo, Marketing and Outreach Coordinator – ByWater Solutions. https://bywatersolutions.com/news/open-to-a-new-era-koha-as-the-strategic-foundation-to-library-re-conception

March 2018 – Presentation – Northern Kentucky University Steely Library: Exploring Energy, Environment, and Space Resources for the P-12 Educator, Presentation Title: “Amateur Radio in the Classroom.”