Ken Varnum

Ken Varnum is the Senior Program Manager for Discovery, Delivery, and Learning Analytics at the University of Michigan Library. In this role, Ken is responsible for the library's discovery interfaces (the "MLibrary" single search tool, ArticlesPlus, Search Tools, etc.), delivery interfaces, and the library's evolving and emerging learning analytics infrastructure. He received a master's degree from the University of Michigan's School of Information and his Bachelor of Arts from Grinnell College. Over his two decades working with public-facing technology in academic, corporate, and special libraries, he has gained a deep appreciation and understanding of the need to tailor systems and interfaces to the local user base. A frequent speaker and author, Ken speaks and writes about analytics, discovery, and content management. In addition to numerous articles and chapters, he wrote "Drupal in Libraries" (2012), compiled the LITA Guide "The Top Technologies every Librarian Needs to Know" (2014), and edited Lorcan Dempsey's "The Network Reshapes the Library" (2014). His next book, "Exploring Discovery: The Front Door to a Library’s Licensed and Digitized Content" is to be published by ALA Editions in 2016. He blogs at rss4lib.com and can be found on Twitter at @varnum.