Employee Profile

The Freedman Center is a partnership between the College of Arts and Sciences and the Kelvin Smith Library in which the Kelvin Smith Library serves as the managing partner. As such, a Managing Librarian is employed by the Kelvin Smith Library to oversee the Freedman Center and to ensure that the overall mission, goals, and objectives are met.

The Kelvin Smith Library also employs the Creative Director of New Media, who has special responsibilities with regard to identifying emerging technologies and future growth opportunities for the Freedman Center; specifically: the position, in consultation with the Managing Librarian, KSL, and CAS, has latitude to develop partnerships starting with Case ITS and schools and management centers, University Circle institutions, as well as nationally and internationally; as well, this position leads initiatives for New Media development opportunities for the Freedman Center.

Language Learning Manager has special responsibilities as regards the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures (DMLL) and works with DMLL to ensure that faculty and students have a positive technological environment in which language learning may take place.  The Language Learning Manager works closely with faculty to use technologies in education (video conferencing for instance: Polycom, Skype, Adobe Connect) or other emerging technologies that enhance the ability of students to learn a lanuage beyond the brick and mortar borders of the classroom.

The Training and Operations Manager is responsible for the day-to-day activities of the Freedman Center with an especial focus on training library staff, student staff, and persons who come to the Freedman Center to accomplish a task.  Beyond this, the Training and Operations Manager position is reponsible for the management of student staff, management of financial and procedural activities in the center, and ensures the hardware and software are operating as expected.

To support the Managing Librarian, the Freedman Center both employs and calls on expertise from a variety of locations, including administrative staff in the Kelvin Smith Library as well as external support from the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, the College of Arts and Sciences, and other divisions, including Instructional Technology and Academic Computing. Within the Center itself, three full-time managers actively support and direct the activities of both the language learning and multimedia processes and general operations. The managers of the Freedman Center are supported by student workers and temporary employees who are thoroughly trained in the policies, procedures, and technical activities that the Center requires.

The Managing Librarian of the Freedman Center has a Masters of Library and Information Science and is Head of Digital Library Programs at the Kelvin Smith Library. The three manager positions require a Bachelor’s degree and in most cases well-exceed this level of education--in fact, all have at least a Masters and Tina Oestreich, our Language Learning Manager, has a PhD in her field. Student workers are taken directly from the pool of available and willing workers in the various colleges of Case Western Reserve University and include both undergraduate and graduate students.