Elle Covington (they/them) joined the University Libraries on July 10 as a Research Specialist Librarian and assistant professor in the Research Partnerships department. Covington specializes in social sciences research and will participate in the Social Sciences librarians group, assisting with higher level research questions from students and faculty.
Covington’s specialty is evidence synthesis methods including systematic and scoping reviews as well as related reviews. These research methodologies are characterized by an exhaustive search on a topic, limiting bias, and transparency and reproducibility. Evidence synthesis is an area of focus for Covington’s professional research as well with an interest in developing strategies for decolonizing review methodology. Covington is co-teaching an introduction to evidence synthesis in person on Nov 14, at 1 pm in LLS 221 (register) and also on Nov 16, at 1 pm on Zoom (register).
“I am excited to help people dig into their research and search more effectively,” explained Covington. They have a particular passion for working with graduate students and are interested in learning more about and participating in the research being done at Nebraska.
Covington comes to Nebraska from the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries where they were the Multidisciplinary Liaison Librarian. Other professional positions include the Liaison Librarian for Social Work, Kinesiology & Health Education, and Educational Psychology at the University of Texas, Austin (UT); Editorial Fellow, Information & Culture: A Journal of History at UT Austin; and On-Call Library Associate, at Farmer’s Branch Manske Library, Farmer’s Branch, TX.
Covington received their Master of Science, Information Studies from UT Austin, and holds a Master of Arts, Media & Communication. They have written several publications, given numerous presentations and served on many committees.
Covington plans to develop a blog for the Research Partnerships department where the members of the faculty in that unit can contribute to the dialogue about research and methodology on campus. Their contact information is: ecovington4@unl.edu.