Rian Debner (they/them) serves as the university librarian in the UWS library. They are responsible for understanding the information needs of academic programs and providing appropriate resources to meet those needs. Rian Debner oversees information literacy programming and ensures that the library is a key asset in faculty development and student attraction and retention. They manage the library’s collections, which includes acquiring, managing, and delivering those resources to all campus constituencies. Prior to this position, they served as the head of library public Services at UWS, managing the reference, instruction, and access services functions of the library. With over 20 years of experience as an instructor, they taught within the doctor of chiropractic program and created learning objects, tutorials and mini-courses for all academic programs at UWS.
Before coming to University of Western States, Rian was a tenured faculty librarian at Mt. Hood Community College, where they were a liaison to its health sciences and science programs. They have also served as a librarian at Portland Community College, Lewis & Clark College, Clackamas Community College, and Minneapolis Community & Technical College. Prior to their library career, they taught French at the University of Minnesota and martial arts at a dojo in Minneapolis, Minn.
Rian Debner has a Bachelor of Arts in French from Bryn Mawr College, a Master of Arts (MA) in French from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) from Dominican University.
How do you engage with the UWS mission on a daily basis?
A core part of my role in the library is assisting faculty and students to find, access and use the best available and most clinically-relevant evidence to provide the best care for the good of the patient. This supports excellence in teaching and learning in evidence-informed, integrated health care, as well as scholarly inquiry. I engage students in critical thinking about the research evidence, its appraisal and its fit for real-life questions and cases. The whole library team in the UWS library strives for excellence in the services and resources that help members of the UWS community succeed in their educational, research and clinical endeavors.
