I work as a reference librarian in Love Library.    I provide reference assistance to individuals at the Reference Desk and orientation and library instruction for classes and other groups. 

As the business librarian, I am the library's liaison with the College of Business Administration. I help faculty, staff, and students of the college use library resources effectively. I also select business related books and other materials for the library.

In addition to my other duties, I am working with the teaching faculty to help them make effective use of the electronic resources available from the University Libraries. The widespread use of the Blackboard course management software on the UNL campus, facilitates the use of electronic resources.

Scholarly Interests

• The History of US Army Technical Intelligence Organizations
  I am working on an article on the origins and evolution of Army technical intelligence organizations. In order to organize the material I have gathered, I am preparing a hypertext chronology. An early version is available at:

  Army Technical Intelligence Chronology

• The Mechanical Pencil Industry in Chicago
   I am particularly interested in the histories of the Autopoint and Dur-O-Lite companies and in the career of C.R. Keeran.  I have made some material related to Autopoint and Dur-O-Lite on this Web site:

  Pencil Research Page
  

• Computing and Scholarship
   One purpose of my research efforts is to see how I can use computer applications.

  An article on "Using Sorted Lists for Error Checking" was published in the journal Library Philosophy and Practice at:

  http://www.uidaho.edu/~mbolin/bbolin.htm
   

• The History of Technical Reports Literature
   One by-product of my efforts to make "lost" technical reports is a list of Army Manuals Listed in the Bibliography of Scientific and Industrial Reports, 1946-1949. That has proven popular with people looking for World War II era manuals. It is located at:

  Army Manuals Listed in the Bibliography of Scientific and Industrial Reports, 1946-1949
  

• The Organization of Knowledge 

  In Fall 2003, I taught an American Studies class, AMST 301, Studies in American Culture, at the University of Idaho. The theme of the class was "the Organization of Knowledge in Modern America." Thirty juniors and seniors took the class.

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