Staff and Contact Us
Each member of the Blegen Library staff has a core area of responsibility, but each also interacts with the users of the library in a variety of ways: face-to-face, on the telephone, and by e-mail. In the interest of encouraging the users of the Blegen to take advantage of their expertise and assistance, here are short descriptions of each member:
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), Head Librarian
Karen Bohrer came to the Blegen Library in October 2008 after more than six years at the American College of Thessaloniki where she was the founding Director of that institution’s Bissell Library. Ms. Bohrer has been an active member of the American Library Association for many years and has over two decades of practical experience in book and journal acquisition, reference and user services, technical services, electronic resources and library management. She is an alumna of St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland and, after finishing her MSLS at the Catholic University of America, she started her career at the Chicago Public Library. In 1984, she moved back to Connecticut, where she grew up, and held a variety of increasingly senior posts at libraries across the state. She is also a member of the Association of College and Research Libraries.
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), Collection Development Librarian
Yuki Furuya joined the staff of the Blegen Library in June 2010 and is responsible for the selection, acquisition, maintenance and development of the library’s collection. She also assists members and readers in using that collection. Yuki received her undergraduate degree, with a double major in Archaeology and Classical Philology, from Cornell University and her MA in Classical Studies from the University of Cincinnati where her thesis was on Middle to Late Neolithic architecture in Central Greece. She was a Regular Member of the School in 2004-5 and a Student Associate member between 2006 and 2010, funded by fellowships from the Archaeological Institute of America, INSTAP, ASCSA, and the University of Cincinnati. Yuki has worked on various field projects in Greece and Cyprus as a cataloguer and an artifact illustrator. She has also worked at the dendrochronology lab at Cornell as a research assistant, the study collection at the University of Cincinnati as a student archivist, and at the Institute of Aegean Prehistory for East Crete as a library intern, where she helped run the library and manage its digital resources. In addition to English, Yuki speaks Japanese, Greek and French.
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), Secretary
Susanna Ipirotis has been employed at the American School since September 2003. Until July 2005 she was a receptionist, and since then has been serving dual duty as the Blegen Library Secretary and as the booking clerk for Cotsen Hall (under the supervision of Tellos Panos). In the Blegen, Susanna performs a variety of tasks including providing orientation tours, general information and assistance to readers, processing and shelf-readying of all new acquisitions, stacks and reading room maintenance, and a range of additional office responsibilities. She speaks Greek and English as well as some German and Japanese.
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), Cataloguer
Panagiota Magouti joined the Blegen team in January 2006. Her primary task is cataloguing but she also plays a leading role in the team developing the Library Management System and new technologies, and addressing research community reference needs. Panagiota received her first degree in library science and archives after a four-year residence at the Ionian University in Corfu. She was then awarded a scholarship by the National Scholarship Foundation in Greece (IKY), and conducted her course work for the degree of M.Sc. in information & library management at the University of Central England (UCE) in Birmingham, UK. While in England she worked in a college library where she experienced first-hand the information needs of young students. During the course of her education she experienced the introduction of e-books and the dissemination of hypertext information on the web. As a consequence of that, she developed and wrote her dissertation on the evaluation of online presentations of electronic texts of Homer, completed in spring 2007.
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), Associate Librarian
Liz Mitsou-Gignoli started working for the American School in September of 1973 as the Secretary in the Blegen Library. In 1981 she became Assistant Librarian and in 2005 Associate Librarian. She worked through two major transitional periods in the Library; one change was from a very basic catalogue to a subject-title-series and main entry catalogue and the second was from the latter to an electronic catalogue. Her duties include Greek orders, supervision and management of binding and rebinding, addition and correction of entries in Ambrosia, and assistance to visitors and members. Liz’s studies include commercial studies in Montreux, Switzerland. Born in Athens, Greece, Liz is the daughter of the late Markellos Mitsos, Director of the Epigraphical Museum. She spent two years in Princeton, NJ, where her father was a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study. She speaks English, French, and German.
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), Assistant Librarian
Maria Tourna has been working at the Blegen Library since July 2000. She has a B.A. in archaeology, received in 1997 from the University of Athens. She has participated in excavation projects with the 2nd Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities and with the Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology and Caves. During her first two years in the Blegen she served as a Library Assistant, working mostly with the Newspaper clipping files project and with various general tasks. From 2002 until 2006 she was the Secretary in the Blegen Library and her duties included visitors and members services, orientations, preparation of new books, and working with the card catalogue. As soon as Aleph software was implemented she started working on the online catalogue (retrospective corrections and additions of missing records). In 2006 she became Assistant Librarian, and is taking on responsibility of management and cataloguing of serials and their systemization. She continues to provide reference services and assistance to visitors and members. Maria is enrolled in the Postgraduate Distance Learning Program in Information and Library Studies (M.Sc. Econ./Diploma) at University of Aberystwyth (Wales). She speaks Greek, English, and Italian.