OLIS Welcomes New Resource Sharing Coordinator

The Office of Library and Information Services is pleased to announce that Lori DeCesare has joined our team as the new Resource Sharing Coordinator. Lori will coordinate resource sharing activities among libraries statewide, including coordinating the statewide delivery and interlibrary loan systems for the Library of Rhode Island (yes, LORI). She will serve as a member of the Network Services Team, which is responsible for physical and digital resource sharing, including OLIS' partnership with Ocean State Libraries on the Palace Project. The Network Services Team is also responsible for OLIS' web presence.

Lori brings a breadth of experience in public libraries to OLIS. She has worked as a reference/adult services librarian in public libraries throughout Rhode Island since 1997. In these roles, she developed and implemented numerous computer class modules and certification programs for adults to promote digital literacy and basic skill job training, as well as supervising interlibrary loan functions. Most recently, she was the Assistant Director at the Jesse M. Smith Memorial Library in Burrillville where her duties included assisting with library management such as policy development and grant-writing and managing reference services, including ILL and collection development. In addition to her public library experience, she has also served as the access services/ILL librarian at the Community College of Rhode Island, where she managed interlibrary loan and document delivery services, and at Ocean State Libraries, where she was the eZone support librarian and cataloger. She was a founding co-chair of the Rhode Island Library Association’s Financial Literacy Roundtable and had a key role in developing financial literacy programming initiatives in libraries across the state of Rhode Island. 

Lori holds a Master of Library and Information Studies from the University of Rhode Island and a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Science Education from Rhode Island College. In addition to her library experience, she has also worked as a high school science teacher.