Dr. Paulina Mickiewicz

Paulina Mickiewicz completed a Ph.D. in Communication Studies at McGill University. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and English Cultural Studies from McGill University and a Master's degree in French Cultural Studies from Columbia University. Her dissertation “The Bias of Libraries: Montreal's Grande Bibliothèque” considers the role that the library plays as a communications medium and cultural technology in a period when emerging digital and network media are destabilizing traditional notions of libraries and their role as democratic, public institutions. Her research interests focus on cultural institutions and urban life, library design and architecture, digital culture, reading practices, as well as "library ecologies" and the media-environment interface. Her publications include, “Access and its Limits: The Contemporary Library as a Public Space” in Space and Culture, “Knowledge Experiments: Technology and the Library” in Revue Intermédialités, and “Google Books vs. The Library: Shaping Choice, Creating Publics” in Seachange. She is currently working on her book manuscript on the future of libraries in the digital age, to be published with University of Toronto Press in 2016. During her time at McGill, Paulina has been the recipient of, among others, an FQRSC Doctoral Fellowship, an H. Anthony Hampson Award from the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, a Wolfe Graduate Fellowship, and a Faculty of Arts Graduate Teaching Award.