Sika Berger

A member of the Learning, Research & Technology group, Sika works with students, faculty and staff in a number of ways. She listens to library users, explores scenarios and patterns of usage, and gathers and reports on data. She manages the User Experience Lab in Alumnae Gymnasium, provides consultation, leads UX studies, and supports user-centered design for virtual as well as physical services and spaces.

As a subject librarian Sika works with individuals and classes to coach, instruct, and facilitate research and information literacy sessions. She develops collections, primarily in the social sciences, works with faculty, and helps library users with challenges at all levels. Recognizing the variety of experiences and expectations users bring to the library, she concentrates on understanding their needs and pursuing innovative solutions to problems.

Sika's paraprofessional and professional library career began in Audiovisual Services, Reference, and Government Documents at Oberlin College. She led the Government Information unit and coordinated online searching as a Reference Librarian at Tufts University. At Smith Sika's position evolved from Documents/Reference librarianship to developing the Libraries' early digital presence and virtual reference services, to leadership of the Digital Services Team and website redesigns before concentrating on UX, always teaching and acting as subject librarian to several disciplines.

Committees

Assessment and User Experience Team, Five College User Experience Committee

Research Interests

User-centered design, technology trends for higher education, meta-literacies, feminist pedagogy, access and equity.

Professional Affiliations

American Library Association (ALA), Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures; Beta Phi Mu: International Honor Society for Library & Information Science