We hope you enjoy this series where we meet and get to know employees from across campus. Would you like to be featured? Contact us at campusnews@csufresno.edu.

Name: Sarah McDaniel
Title: Librarian
Department: Fresno State Library
Academic Degree(s):

• B.A. French, University of Wisconsin–Madison
• M.A. Foreign Languages and Literatures (French) and Masters of Library and Information Science, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee

How long have you worked at Fresno State and in which offices have you worked?
Four years in the library.

Are you a Valley native?
I am not a Valley native. I came to the area to work in the library. I’m originally from Wisconsin.

Are you a Bulldog family with generations of Bulldog graduates or current students?
We are not a Bulldog family, but my husband now also teaches on campus as temporary faculty in American Indian Studies.

Do you have a campus mentor or someone who has helped you in your career?
Bryan Berrett, director of the Office of IDEAS has been a great collaborator on initiatives related to streaming video, pandemic services and digital humanities.

Tell us about your department and what people may not know about it.
The library is an incredible resource with a large research collection. We have great people working in every part of the library developing technology projects, collaborations with faculty and new archival and research collections.

What is your most notable accomplishment in your field, and why was it important?
At Fresno State, I led the library’s contributions to the library renaming effort, serving on the campus task force and writing team that researched founding Dean Henry Madden’s history of antisemitism and racism. As a member of the Jewish community and someone who is dedicated to providing an inclusive campus environment, I’m so proud of the work we did and grateful for the expertise and dedication my colleagues brought to the report.

At UC Berkeley, I was assessment consultant for a Mellon-funded initiative to transform the curriculum through research-based learning, contributing to new scholarship about information literacy and curricular transformation.

What are you most passionate about in your field and why?
I’m passionate about librarian collaborations with faculty to engage students in research. These include information literacy, learning assessment and digital humanities.

What is a memorable moment you had at your job?
I played a leadership role in keeping our library open during the pandemic. In addition to reopening before any other CSU to provide study space, devices and research materials, we developed many new online services during this period.

What is a memorable moment you had in class?
A few years ago, I taught a freshman writing class for multilingual students as part of a challenging first-year cluster at another institution. Many students in my class wrote essays for the first time, and some excelled. The dedication of the students to work through ideas and drafts together was inspirational.

What is your teaching style?
As I’ve become a seasoned teacher, I am increasingly interested in centering students’ learning by asking them to contribute to the content with questions and ideas, and our students never disappoint. As a librarian, I’m also interested in collaborating with faculty in the classroom and beyond.

What is the most interesting or unusual job you've ever had?
I was a restaurant line cook for nearly a decade starting in high school. That job allowed me to work in Paris, Santa Fe, Portland and Key West.

What do you like to do for fun in your spare time?
I’m a member of an adult swim team, the Fresno Manatee Masters, and we swim four early mornings a week at Fresno High. I’ve met great people through that group. I also enjoy walking my dogs and casual hikes.

What is something interesting about you that most people don’t know?
During my undergrad and graduate studies, I had the opportunity to study the francophone world with some greats in the field, and lived in France and Spain as a student.

Is there something else you would like to share that was not asked?
I have an amazing adult daughter who now lives in Wisconsin.