Katie Campana
Associate Professor
Patsy H. Perritt Chair in Youth Services
225-578-1754 | 223K Peabody Hall
kcampana@lsu.edu
MLIS Florida State University
PhD University of Washington
Dr. Kathleen Campana is an Associate Professor, and the Patsy H. Perritt Chair in Youth Services. Her research explores how to support learning and development for children and their families in out-of-school and digital learning environments. She earned her PhD from the University of Washington and previously was a faculty member at Kent State University. Her most recent funded research projects include Project VOICE and Project SHIELD, both funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and Read Baby Read, funded by the William Penn Foundation. She has taught in the areas of children’s and youth library services, museum studies, and research methods. Her work has been published in Library Quarterly, Information and Learning Sciences, Journal of Early Childhood Research, Early Childhood Education Journal, and Journal of Research in Childhood Education, among others. She has also co-authored one book, Supercharged Storytimes: An Early Literacy Planning and Assessment Guide, and co-edited another, Create, Innovate, and Serve: A Radical Approach to Children’s and Youth Programming.
Courses Taught
LIS 7100: Youth Services Librarianship
Research Areas
Children and families; informal learning environments; early learning, development, and health; family engagement; social justice; information needs and practices
Selected Publications
Campana, K., Mills, J.E., Chun, J. & Ickes, J. (2024). Encouraging, empowering, and educating: Informal educators, caregivers, and children as partners in computational thinking activities. Future in Educational Research. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/fer3.47
Kociubuk, J. & Campana, K. (2024). Coding for play: identifying and categorizing educator-designed group playful learning experiences in informal learning environments. Library and Information Science Research. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074081882400001X
Campana, K., Kociubuk, J., Mills, J.E., & Martin, M.H. (2023). Learning about what’s most important: Incorporating values into the design of learning experiences. Information & Learning Sciences. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ILS-06-2023-0073/full/html
Campana, K., Mills, J.E., Kociubuk, J., & Martin, M.H. (2022). Access, advocacy, & impact: How public libraries are contributing to educational equity for children and families in underserved communities. Journal of Research in Childhood Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/02568543.2021.2017375
Campana, K. (2020). As easy as 1, 2, 3: Exploring early math in public library storytimes. The Library Quarterly. 90(1), 20-37. https://doi.org/10.1086/706310
Selected Grants and Funded Projects
Principal Investigator. “Project VOICE Supplement.” Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2021. $55,605. Funded.
Principal Investigator. “Project SHIELD: Supporting Healthy Infant Early Learning and Development.” Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2021. $99,982. Funded.
Principal Investigator. “Read Baby Read Evaluation.” William Penn Foundation, 2020. $275,754. Funded.
Principal Investigator. “Project VOICE: Value-Sensitive design of Outcomes Informing Community Engagement. Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2019. $421,533. Funded.
Researcher. “Strengthening Education in North East Nigeria States.” USAID, 2019. $3,907,103. Funded.
Selected Professional & Community Service
Mapping Children’s Play in Museums and Libraries Project, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Advisor, 2024-2026
Research Committee, Association for Library Service to Children, Co-chair, 2023-2025
Public Libraries Advisory Committee, Public Library Association, Member, 2023-2025
The Asia Foundation, Let’s Read Mongolia Initiative, Consultant, 2021-2024
Bay Area Discovery Museum’s Reimagining School Readiness Project, Evaluator, 2019-2023
Awards & Honors
Nominated for Excellence in Research Mentorship Award, 2019, Kent State University.
ALISE/Bohdan S. Wynar Research Paper Competition 2018: Mills, J.E., Campana, K., Bayo, I., Capps, J.L., Carlyle, A., Metoyer, C., . . . Kotrla, B. (2018). Early literacy in library storytimes, Part 2: A quasi-experimental study and intervention with children’s storytime providers. The Library Quarterly, 88(2), 160-176.
President’s Award for Excellence in Research 2015 – Washington Library Association