Hi. I'm Dr. Kaitlin Light Costello.

I am an Associate Professor of Library and Information Science at the School of Communication & Information at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

I earned my Ph.D. in Information and Library Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, my M.S. in Library and Information Science with a Certificate in Special Collections from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a B.A. in film with a concentration in poetry from Vassar College.

What I do

I study health information in everyday life, focusing on the information practices and behaviors of disabled and chronically ill people. My interpretivist and qualitative research program incorporates methodologies like grounded theory and situational analysis to better understand people's experiences with health information. My studies examine how people use the internet to search for health information, how they assess the relevance of health information from a variety of sources, and the medicalization of technology and surveillance.

Research in progress

I am currently working on two projects: one about the National Library of Medicine in the United States, and another about health information in everyday life.

Teaching

I teach classes in human information behavior, health information, and AI and society. I am also the concentration coordinator for the Health Information Concentration in our master's program.

Consulting

If you're looking for someone to speak at your next event or to provide consulting, I am available to share my expertise on topics such as health information behavior, research methodology, and AI ethics in healthcare. Contact me below.

News and updates

Here are a few highlights from the past five years of my career. For a comprehensive list, including all publications, funding and awards granted, courses taught, dissertations supervised, and more please download my full CV [PDF]

Get in touch with me

Kaitlin Costello, Associate Professor
Email: k.costello @ rutgers.edu
School of Communication and Information
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
4 Huntington Street
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1071

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