UH Libraries Welcomes Resource Management Coordinator

Melody Condron

Melody Condron

The University of Houston Libraries provides access to four million volumes of books and e-books, manuscripts, journals and other resources that support the teaching, learning and research activities of our students and scholars.

The care and maintenance of the catalog’s records fall under the purview of the Libraries’ resource management unit, led by Melody Condron.

Condron recently joined the UH Libraries as the new resource management coordinator. In this role, Condron and her team are responsible for quality control of the four million records in the Libraries’ database that represent a range of scholarly resources. Quality control involves activities that ensure records of catalogued materials are properly identified, described and linked for ease of discoverability.

Along with providing practical expertise in bibliographic resources management, Condron’s professional interests include libraries’ management of physical materials in a digital age. While students and scholars are using more and more digital resources, the conservation of print or physical collections in the stacks remains a priority to ensure users can access the best of both worlds.

Condron also studies personal archiving, the capture and preservation of an individual’s digital content, such as social media posts, photos and other ephemera. “We have a lot of data in our personal lives, and most people don’t think about what will happen to that if they pass away,” Condron said. “There’s been a big push in librarianship on how to make that data accessible in a meaningful way.”

Prior to arriving in Houston, Condron helped manage a consortium of 171 libraries in Montana that included K-12 school, law, public, and college and university libraries. Before that, she managed the collection for three public libraries, also in Montana. These experiences helped her gain broad knowledge of the larger issues in librarianship, and a strong desire to make connections with librarians across multiple areas of the profession.

Condron was excited to find a culture of collaboration and focus on innovation at UH Libraries. As a new member of the team, Condron brings fresh perspective, and has discovered that colleagues support suggestions for improvements to existing processes. “Everyone is really open to new ideas,” she said.

She has embraced the University’s focus on student success, and the Libraries’ commitment to provide enhanced services and resources in support of our students and scholars. This common goal, she says, has a positive impact on the engagement of librarians and staff as well. “Everyone seems to be excited about being at the University of Houston,” she said.

Miscellany about Melody

  • An avid vegetable gardener and former resident of beautiful but chilly Montana, she is thrilled at the fact that she can now garden year-round.
  • Her top nonfiction go-to is The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers. “This is a fantastic book that identifies the seven different ways that your brain tricks you on purpose. Each time I read it, I learn new things, and I think ‘I forgot that,’ which is funny because it’s a book about memory.”
  • Favorite fiction: “I’m a fan of anything by Terry Pratchett.”
  • Favorite cuisine: Indian, Thai, Vietnamese. “Houston is a fantastic place for food.”
  • Favorite films: Hot Fuzz and Tombstone.

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Posted on February 17th, 2015 by Esmeralda Fisher and filed under Announcements | Comments Off on UH Libraries Welcomes Resource Management Coordinator