About me
Emily Vardell is an Associate Professor in the School of Library and Information Management at Emporia State University. She teaches graduate courses on the foundations of library and information science, research methods, reference, consumer health, and health sciences librarianship. Her research interests are in the area of health information behavior with a focus on health insurance literacy and how people make health insurance decisions. Dr. Vardell earned her PhD from the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2017 and her Master of Library Science degree from Texas Woman’s University in 2007. She began her medical librarian career as a National Library of Medicine Associate Fellow and then served as Director for Reference and Education at the Louis Calder Medical Library at the University of Miami. Dr. Vardell is an active member of the Medical Library Association (MLA) and has served on the 2019 Nominating Committee, as Chair of the MLA Public Health/Health Administration Section, as Chair of the MLA Professional Recruitment and Retention Committee, and Section Council Liaison to the National Program Committee for the 2017 annual conference. She is the Online Updates Column Editor for Medical Reference Services Quarterly where she reviews a health-related database each quarter. She has conducted research presentations at state, regional, national, and international conferences and received grants from the Medical Library Association and the National Network of Libraries of Medicine.