Jill Strykowski has a rich background in original cataloging work, archival digitization, library project management, library systems configuration and physical collection maintenance. Ms. Strykowski specializes in applying project management techniques to help teams migrate and improve library systems, and to improve technical services workflows and technology use to maximize efficiency. Her current scholarly interests focus on how library science is impacted by AI tools, linked data, and the data brokering economy.

She is a native of Berkeley, California and spent her undergraduate years in Los Angeles. She graduated with honors from the University of Southern California in 2006, with a BA in Art History, moving to New York City shortly after finishing this degree. She was excited to do her graduate studies and start her library career in New York State and was happy to move back to California in 2020.

Ms. Strykowski has a master’s degree in Library & Information Science from Long Island University, and another in Archives & Public History from New York University. And she is excited to start her PhD work this fall through the SJSU iSchool’s Gateway PhD partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University.

Proposal Title: How must libraries evolve in the Age of AI? : A metadata-based perspective on libraries and technology

SJSU Supervisor: Anthony Bernier

MMU Supervisor(s): Jenny Kanellopoulou

Education:

Manchester Metropolitan University: Doctor of Philosophy – PhD, Library and Information Management) Jun 2025- 

New York University: Master of Arts – MA, Archives/Archival AdministrationMaster of Arts, Sep 2009 – Jun 2011

Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus: Master of Library & Information Science – MLIS, Library and Information ScienceMaster of Library & Information Science, Sep 2009 – Jun 2011

University of Southern California: Bachelor of Arts – BA, Art History, Criticism and Conservation ; Minor: Theater arts ; Minor: Cinema Studies, Sep 2001 – Jun 2006

Current or Most Recent Position:

Cataloging + Government Documents Lead, San José State University

Recent Publications:

Strykowski, J. (June 2025). Getting Government Documents into the CZ; or How to Herd Cats? [Conference presentation]. ELUNA (ExLibris Users of North America) Conference, Atlanta, GA.

As part of the leadership for the ExLibris users’ group of California, I have been investigating ways for libraries to coordinate with ExLibris to create and maintain e-resource Government Document collections in the Alma Community Zone. There were questions that came out of the regional conference last October about whether a library could be set up in the vendor portal and be entrusted to manage and update a California GovDoc e-resource collection and a Federal GovDoc e-resource collection that libraries could use as a replacement for MARCIVE or CRDP loads. Everyone I’ve talked to so far has agreed this is a great idea – now if I can only find the right people to catalog the resources and agree to manage the collections once created.

Strykowski, J. (2025) [Review of the book Cataloging Library Resources: An Introduction. Second Edition by Marie Keen Shaw]. Library Resources & Technical Services (LRTS), 69(2).

The fundamentals of MARC cataloging have not changed in about fifty years. These fundamentals are described soundly in this textbook by Marie Keen Shaw. I can see the years of work and training on which this book is based, but as a professional cataloger with almost two decades of experience working with library, archive, and museum metadata, I can also see where this textbook went wrong as Shaw seeks to make sense of library-managed metadata through a MARC-based framework. MARC is necessary knowledge for anyone working with library metadata, but it is not a good framework from which to understand the increasingly interoperable future of library cataloging.

Strykowski, J. (2024 January 24).Using ChatGPT to Create Norm Rules for Alma and Primo VE [Webinar]. ELUNA Learns: Ex Libris Users of North America Conference 2023 Highlights. Online

I’m sure that everyone who creates norm rules has struggled. It is not an easy-to-understand syntax. I thought I’d see if ChatGPT could help me, but first I had to train it. I will share this experience with those at the ELUNA conference.

Strykowski, J. (2024 May 15). Strange New Data World [Presentation]. ExLibris Users of North America Conference 2024, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The metadata we interact with in the Ex Libris environment are increasingly harvested, manipulated and shared across Alma/Primo modules in ways that seem inaccessible to library professionals. Clarivate’s investment in AI, and the upcoming release of linked data options in Alma/Primo will only widen this knowledge gap, if we let it. For this reason, the California State University (CSU) consortium put together a working group in 2023 focused on finding NEW ways for library workers to influence metadata in the Alma/Primo environment through direct manipulation in an ILS module, or through lobbying Ex Libris for product enhancements. We are interested in advocating for ways that library-trained, descriptive metadata specialists can have agency to improve library metadata in a world increasingly reliant on large data model algorithms. Our progress will be shared during this session.

Geller, D., & Strykowski, J. (2023). Lessons in outsourcing: Creating in-house digitisation infrastructure in Jewish heritage organisations. Journal of Digital Media Management (London), 11(4), 334–340. 

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York, NY recently completed a multi-year project to digitize and make accessible online approximately 4.1 million pages of books and archival materials, pertaining to all aspects of Jewish life in Eastern Europe, that the organization had collected from its founding in 1925 until the onset of World War II. Initially, YIVO retained a corporate scanning vendor to handle digitization and post-production work, but pivoted to opening an in-house digitization lab to control rising costs and ensure on-time completion at the end of 2021. This paper discusses the reasons for choosing a corporate vendor, the factors that prompted the shift to opening an in-house lab, and the outcomes from successfully completing the project, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

AI and Digital Ethics – Promise and Problems

KLEVR Tech Talks : A.I. Tools, Tips & Traps [CONFERENCE] · Apr 20, 2023 

The advent of easy to use Large Language Model AI like ChatGPT and other tools like StableDiffusion or ElevenLabs Voice cloner have given every user unprecedented capabilities and create content, code snippets and entire applications that were beyond their reach just a few months ago. Where does this all lead? Is it the end of creative thought as some worry about or the beginning of a new renaissance of ideas and discovery that were beyond our reach before? It’s difficult to predict where all this will lead, but just considering where we are today; what are you excited about and what concerns you?

Roy, M., Steffens, K., Cabrera, P., Strykowski, J., & Megwalu, A. (2022). CRT in praxis: Library and archival collections at San José State University. Education for Information, 38(4), 347–366.

Through various efforts, the staff and faculty of San José State University’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library (King Library) are working towards creating more equitable and inclusive collections. Examining the library’s collecting practices and collections by and about African Americans, this article presents the ongoing work of a working group that was formed in 2020 in response to an Anti-Racism Action Plan developed in the library. By using some of the tenets of the CRT framework such as intersectionality, counter storytelling, and deconstructing colorblindness and white supremacy, the authors discuss the steps that are being taken to revise, review, and revisit the King Library’s collecting practices in relation to the history of SJSU’s African American Studies program, The Africana Center, and other relevant community history.