Lauren’s academic library career began in 2001. She has seen equal time spent in technical services and public services roles, and she specializes in serving the information needs of health sciences programs and patrons. She enjoys institutional and library assessment work; having received training at the institutional and national levels, she has served in this domain since 2007.

In addition to her library work, Lauren served as an instructor of English composition and literature courses for the Mississippi Virtual Community College for 10 years and remains passionate about creating meaningful online learning environments for traditional and distance learning students.

Degrees and Certifications

• Master of Arts, English, University of Mississippi
• Master of Library and Information Science, University of Southern Mississippi
• Bachelor of Arts, English, University of Mississippi
• Medical Library Association Academy of Health Information Professionals (AHIP) – Distinguished Level

Liaison Areas

Ida Moffett School of Nursing

• All programs

School of Health Professions

• Physician Assistant Studies

Selected Publications

• Young, LM. 2024. Digital Badging for Information Literacy Instruction: Diffusion of Innovations Analysis and Case Study. portal: Libraries and the Academy 24(4), 705-723. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/pla.2024.a938739
• Young, LM. 2023. Christian Worldview in Academic Information Literacy Instruction: Survey Results and Discussion. Atla Summary of Proceedings 77. https://doi.org/10.31046
• Young, LM. Gospel as Critical Information Literacy Lens: An instructive synthesis of the CCCU Educational Commitments and the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Christian Higher Education: An International Journal of Research, Theory, and Practice. 2023 22(2). https://doi.org/10.1080/15363759.2022.2138635
• Young, LM and Hinton, EG (eds). 2019. Framing Health Care Instruction: An Information Literacy Handbook for the Health Sciences. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
• Day WL, Waddell, CT, Daugherty, JD, and Young, LM. Not just for students: Non-instructional applications of LibGuides. In Dobbs, A, and Sittler, R (eds.) Innovative LibGuides Applications: Real World Examples. Lanham, MD : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (2016).
• Young LM, SB Clark, CK Machado, EG Hinton, and MR Norris. Medical Libraries Supporting Interprofessional Education. In M Edwards (ed.) Interprofessional Education and Medical Libraries: Partnering for Success. Lanham, MD : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (2016).
• Young, LM, Machado, CK, Clark, SB. “Re-purposing with purpose: Creating a collaborative learning space to support institutional interprofessional initiatives.” Medical Reference Services Quarterly. 2015 Oct (34)4.

Selected Presentations

• Young, LM. “Inviting University Students’ Faith into the Information Appraisal Process: Current Evidence, Benefits, and Strategies for faculty.” Paper presentation at Atla Annual Meeting, Long Beach, CA, June 21, 2024.
• Bui, L, Gurley, L, Northrup, LA and Young, LM. “Interprofessional Approach to Understanding How Faith Affects Patient Medication Choices.” Fellowship for Interprofessional Development at Samford (FINDS) project. Co-Principal Investigators: Lan Bui, PharmD, MPH, BCPS; Lisa Gurley, PhD, RN, CNE, COAT Samford University Faculty Connect Conference presentation. August 2022.
• Young, LM. Information Literacy at Christian Higher Education Institutions: A Visual Synthesis of the CCCU Commitments and the ACRL Framework. Hybrid poster presentation at ATLA Annual 2022, June 16, 2022, Baltimore, MD.
• Young, LM. “Threshold Concepts as Foundation for Librarian-Teaching Faculty Collaboration.” Paper presented at Library Instruction Tennessee Conference, Austin Peay State University, June 3, 2019.
• Young, LM, Cooper, S, Day, WL, Steward, J, and A DeVries. “Framing the curriculum: Bringing information literacy concepts to life in the disciplines, with two case studies.” Teaching and Learning Mini-Conference, Samford University, August 20, 2018.
• Young, LM, Day, WL, Northrup, LA. “Integrating Information Literacy into Health Sciences Education.” Paper presented at the Alabama Academy of Science 2018 Annual Meeting, March 15, 2018, Birmingham, AL.
• Cecil, Cheryl S., C. Ed Cherry, Kimmetha Herndon, Lori A. Northrup, Jennifer R. Taylor, and Lauren M. Young. “Desirable Outcomes: Closing the Loop for Primary Stakeholders,” webinar. Alabama Association of College and Research Libraries, December 8, 2016.
• Young, LM, Northrup, LA, Day, WL. “Engaging during expansion: Samford University Library’s initiatives to support a growing College of Health Sciences.” Poster session presented at the Southern Chapter/Medical Library Association 2016 Annual Meeting, October 5, 2016, Greenville, SC.
• Young, LM. “Increasing Awareness Across Campus for the Higher-Level Proficiencies of Information Literacy.” Paper presented at AACRL/CUS Best Practice Mini-Session #3, Alabama Library Association 2016 Annual Meeting, April 14, 2016, Gadsden, AL.
• Hinton, EG, Young, LM, Norris, MR. “Collaborative Library Space and Resources: Focusing on Student Perceptions of Interprofessionalism in Medical Education.” Poster session presented at the American Library Association 2015 Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, June 26, 2015.
• Clark, SB, Machado, CK, Young, LM. “Repurposing with purpose: Creating a collaborative learning space to support institutional interprofessional initiatives.” Poster session presented at the Medical Library Association 2014 Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, May 2014.

Professional Associations

• Southern Chapter / Medical Library Association
• Southeast Library Association
• American Theological Library Association
• Alabama Library Association

Awards and Honors

• 2022 William E. and Wylodine H. Hull Fund for Christian Scholarship award for “Information Literacy at Christian Higher Education Institutions"
• Invited participant, Association of College and Research Libraries NSSE Information Literacy Focus Group, April 21, 2021
• 2014-2015 University of Mississippi Medical Center Faculty Scholarship Exchange Instructional Integration Award recipient ($7,772.00)
• 2014-2015 Cohort Member, American Library Association/Association of College Research Libraries Assessment in Action program