Elizabeth Mahoney

Elizabeth Mahoney is a Teaching Associate Professor Emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Computing and Information. She holds an MLIS from the University of Albany and a CAS from the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on reference resource design, digital reference systems, information retrieval methodologies, public librarianship, historical analysis of children’s book publishing, and children’s literature studies. She has led significant projects such as indexing the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science with a team of five indexers over two years.

Her work spans academic and public library contexts, emphasizing practical applications of information science. Notable contributions include assessing chat reference performance and developing virtual reference collections. Mahoney’s publications reflect her expertise in bridging traditional and digital information systems.

Education:

• MLIS, University of Albany
• CAS, University of Pittsburgh

Research Highlights:

• Designed workshops on book arts for public libraries
• Evaluated digital reference tools through transcript analysis
• Pioneered virtual reference collection strategies

Labs/Teams: Led a 5-person team for the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science indexing project (2000-2002). Office located in Information Sciences Building, Room 604B.