Faculty Profile

Education Librarian
Assistant University Librarian
Education Library Room 1501
352-273-2793
brittany.kester@ufl.edu

Brittany Kester

Education:
Ph.D. University of Florida, Curriculum & Instruction, in progress
MLIS Florida State University, Library and Information Science
B.S. University of Central Florida, Elementary Education

Research Interests: Information literacy, Universal Design for Learning, culturally responsive pedagogy and teaching, and children’s literature

Subject Specialist for Art Education; Curriculum, Teaching, & Teacher Education; Early Childhood Studies; Educational Technology; Elementary Education; English Education; ESOL/Bilingual Education; Children’s Literature; Mathematics Education; Reading and Literacy Education; Schools, Society, and Culture; Science Education; Social Studies Education; Special Education; Statistics Education; Teacher Leadership for School Improvement.

Grant Activities:

• C0-PI – Middle Grade and Young Adult Books with Black, Indigenous People and People of Color: Where are They?
• Team Member – Reanimating African American Oral Histories of the Gulf South: Tailoring Education and Research through Natural Language Understanding
• Co-PI – Decolonizing the Children’s Literature Archives: Multicultural Picture Books
• PI – The Coral Way Bilingual Experiment Digital Collection (1961 to 1966) 
• Co-PI – Full STEAM Ahead: Mixed Reality Laptops @ Education 
• Team Member – Fabrication Technologies Supporting Student Coursework
• Team Member – Education Library Tech Upgrade

Recent Publications:

• Elrod, R., Kester, B., & Spears, L. (2021). Library renovations and student behaviors: A longitudinal case study. Journal of Learning Spaces, 10(3). http://libjournal.uncg.edu/jls/article/view/2108
• Kester, B. (2021). Diversifying an academic library’s children’s and young adult collection: A case study from the University of Florida’s Education Library. Collection Management. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01462679.2021.1910888.
• Elrod, R. & Kester, B. (2020). Diverse BookFinder: BIPOC collection development for children’s and young adult collections. C&RL News, 81(10), 481-485. https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.81.10.481

Recent Conference Scholarship:

• Raber, E., Bradley, K., Burns, E. Cowley-Pettis, K., & Kester, B. (Jun. 2021). Diverse children’s literature in K-12 schools: Making mirrors, windows, and glass doors visible. Presented at the American Library Association (ALA) 2021 Annual Conference. Virtual.
• Israel, M., Ray, M., Kester B., & Williams, J. (Apr. 2021). Equity and inclusion through UDL in K-6 Computer Science Education: Perspectives of teachers and instructional coaches. Presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2021 Annual Meeting. Virtual.
• Kester, B. (Apr. 2021). Finding Waldo: Improving the Metadata of a Children’s and Young Adult Collection for discoverability, usability, and inclusivity. Poster Session at the Association of Academic and Research Libraries 2021 Biannual Conference. Virtual.
• Elam, B., Xiaoli, M., & Kester, B. (Mar. 2021). Oral histories for the uninitiated: Transcribing, copyright, metadata and everything in between. Presented at the Visual Resources Association (VRA) 2021 Annual Conference. Virtual.
• Dees, J., & Kester, B. (Oct. 2020). We can go the distance: Transitioning student assistants to remote work during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Presented at the Florida Association of College and Research Libraries 2020 Annual Conference. Virtual.
• Campbell, L., Kester, B., & Rehman, M. S. [presenters], Kumar, S., & Roland, B. [contributors]. (Oct. 2020). Accessibility and usability assessment of an online library research guide. Poster Session at the Library Assessment Conference. Virtual.
• Kester, B. (Apr. 2020). Zoom, Zoom, Zoom: Using Video Conferencing to Collaborate with Faculty and Support Distance Learners. Digital Poster Session at the Association of College & Research Libraries Distance Learning Section Spring 2020 Virtual Poster Session. Online.
• Peterson, R., Homes, A., Kester, B. & Worthington, L. (Mar. 2020). Stranger Things: When Early-Career Librarians Engage the Unknown and Roll for Perception. Presented at The Library Collective. Knoxville, TN.
• Kester, B., de Farber, B., & Coady, M. (Feb. 2020). Revealing a Hidden History: Coral Way, the First Publicly Funded Bilingual Program in the US. Speakers: Dr. Maria Coady, Orestes Gonzalez, Bess de Farber, & Brittany Kester. Presented at the University of Florida. Gainesville, FL.
• Kester, B., Elrod, R, & Lazarevic, B. (Oct. 2019). zSpace: Transforming Teaching and Learning with Mixed Reality. Poster Session at the Florida Association of College & Research Libraries 2019 Annual Conference. Ft. Lauderdale, FL.