Amanpreet (Aman) Kaur

Aman is the inaugural Community Health & Engineering Librarian at Penn Libraries. As part of the Biomedical Library's Information Services team, she provides reference and instructional services. She also coordinates for the Inter-Professional Student Advisory Gatherings, the Penn Libraries' interprofessional networking event series geared towards health sciences students. For the rapidly growing School of Engineering and Applied Science, Aman assists with collection development and liaison services. In addition to working on Penn Libraries' strategic initiatives including Library Lounge and Expertise@Penn, Aman is engaged in planning community health outreach initiatives in collaboration with the Sayre Health Center, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia FIGHT Critical Path Learning Center (formerly the AIDS Library), Penn Nursing, and Penn Medicine. Aman is the 2018 Chair of the Group On Library Diversity (GOLD), which received the inaugural Campus Diversity Award for a Notable Cultural Contribution in 2017, an award given by a coalition of multicultural student organizations.

Aman came to Penn Libraries as the 2015 - 2017 Eugene Garfield Resident in Science Librarianship. During her residency, she received a 2017 Special Libraries Association (SLA) Philadelphia Chapter Appreciation Award for serving as the chapter's first SLAConnect Liaison and its first Community Outreach Committee Chair. Shortly afterwards, Aman received a 2017 SLA Presidential Citation for her work on the Diversity & Inclusion Task Force, a group whose recommendations were accepted by the Board and are currently being implemented at the international level. Most recently, she received the 2018 SLA Philadelphia Chapter Liberty Bell Award for continuing to promote a book drive to support school libraries at 20 public elementary and high schools in Philadelphia in partnership with Penn Libraries and the West Philadelphia Alliance for Children.

Before coming to Penn, Aman worked as a Research Assistant for Reference & Instruction and the Outreach & Engagement Intern at the Rutgers University Libraries and as a CV Inputter/Categorizer for the Rutgers University Office of Institutional Research and Academic Planning. She also completed work as an intern at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey Resource & Learning Center, earning the 2015 Health Sciences Library Association of New Jersey student award for her outstanding work there. Aman also served in the 2013 - 2014 Literacy AmeriCorps of Palm Beach County, where she developed Adult Literacy Services for the Boynton Beach City Library. She holds a Master of Library and Information Science degree from Rutgers. From Iowa State, she holds a BS in Family & Consumer Sciences Education & Studies, with a minor in Engineering Studies. While at Iowa State, she also spent time abroad including a half-semester undergraduate teaching experience in Indonesia and two internships in Ireland. Aman currently holds secondary school teaching certifications. In April 2018, Aman became one of the 2018 Iowa STATEment Makers for Career Achievement, an honor given to young alumni by the Iowa State University Alumni Association.