Research Projects
Current Projects
Leveraging LIS Research Insights to Support LGBTQIA+ Communities
Mental Health Information Access and Intersectionality: The Lived Experience of Chinese LGBTQIA+ Immigrants in the United States
My role: Research Assistant (May 2025-Now)
American Library Association Carnegie Whitney Grant
Project Lead: Dr. Vanessa Kitzie, University of South Carolina
We are working on a systematic review of LIS studies focusing on LGBTQIA+ communities in the last 10 years. We have prepared the literature set guided by PRISMA standards. The next step is to review the literature we identified and build the website for resource sharing.
My role: Principal Investigator (August 2024-Now)
Dissertation research project
With an intersectionality lens, the project will explore how multiple identities and power systems behind them impact Chinese LGBTQIA+ immigrants’ mental health information practices and the barriers and opportunities facing the community to access mental health information in the US. The project aims to (1) increasing the visibility of marginalized individuals who embodied multiple oppression; (2) challenging the tendency to treat the LGBTQIA+ community as a monolith in health information research; (3) explore how to incorporate intersectionality theory into theories in the LIS field; (4) applying decolonization methology to understand marginalized groups’ interaction with information; and (5) provide suugestions for achieving equity in information access with an intersectionality approach. The pilot study of the project is approved by the IRB at USC.
Publications from this project:
Wan, Y., & Kitzie, V. (2025). Exploring intersectionality theory and its implications for LIS pedagogy: Insights from LGBTQIA+ communities across age, gender, immigrant status, and race/ethnicity. Proceedings of the ALISE Annual Conference. https://doi.org/10.21900/j.alise.2025.2016
Public libraries and natural disaster preparedness
My role: Research Assistant (May 2024-Now)
Multiple funding resources
Principal Investigator: Dr. Feili Tu-Keefner, University of South Carolina
A series of projects investigating community-driven public library services in natural disasters across multiple sites in the United States. Looking at the following questions: (1) Did public libraries partner with other agencies to provide situation-specific and community-first information services? (2) What types of disaster information services did public libraries offer the community? (3) Did public librarians use various channels to deliver information services? And (4) From the perspective of community members, how important are local public libraries and their services to the community? Did community members rely on these services during challenging times?
Past Projects
The Practice Model for an Equitable Workplace Transition Program: Disability and Neurodiversity
My role: Research Assistant (August 2022-July 2025)
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership Grant
PI Dr. Keren Dali, University of Denver; Co-PI Dr. Kim Thompson, University of South Carolina
The study will examine the employment experiences of disabled and neurodiverse recent MLIS (Master of Library and Information Sciences) graduates during their program and upon graduation; library managers’ preparedness for working with disabled and neurodiverse employees; peers’ attitudes toward working with disabled and neurodiverse colleagues; and current workplace policies. The project team will create guidelines for workplace policy changes (i.e., equitable and inclusive job advertisements, applications, interviewing, and onboarding) and develop a practice model for an equitable workplace transition program, integrating remote opportunities discovered during the pandemic.
Libraries in Times of Crisis: Phenomena Related to Public Libraries and Their Community Engagement before, during, and after Various Disasters in Southern California
My role: Research Assistant (May 2024-August 2024)
EXCEL Grant Program
PI Dr. Feili Tu-Keefner, University of South Carolina
Examining Public Library Service to LGBTQ+ Communities for Health Information
My role: Research Assistant (2022-2023)
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership Grant
PI Dr. Vanessa Kitzie, University of South Carolina
The Research of Legal Issues of the Unbalanced and Inadequate Development of Library Public Culture Service
My role: Co-Principal Investigator (2018-2022)
National Social Science Fund of China
PI Prof. Yuan Zhao, Sichuan Univeristy