Welcome to Falvey: Nancy Foasberg Joins Research Services & Scholarly Engagement

Nancy Foasberg, Scholarly Communication Librarian.
Nancy Foasberg recently joined Research Services and Scholarly Engagement (RSSE) as the Scholarly Communication Librarian. RSSE works to “support research, teaching, and learning at Villanova University; enabling the discovery of, access to, and stewardship of a vast array of scholarly resources.”
“I’ve been doing scholarly communication work as part of my job for quite some time, but it was one of many responsibilities for me, so I was very pleased to have the opportunity to focus on it exclusively,” Foasberg shared of her new role. “Villanova seems like an exciting place to be! I also love this area – the natural beauty of the forests and the hills – and have many friends and family members nearby.”
Growing up in Gold Country (“Nevada County, home of the Empire Mines and the famous Malakoff Diggins!”), Foasberg earned her bachelor’s degree in english and spanish, and master’s degree in english from California State University, Chico. “I wrote my master’s thesis on Coleridge’s enigmatic, unfinished poem Christabel.” She earned her master’s degree in library science from Drexel University. “Once I graduated [from Drexel], I got a job at Queens College, CUNY, as the subject librarian for English and a few other subjects, which I enjoyed very much, but I gradually moved toward scholarly communication as I became convinced of the urgency of supporting open access.”
Foasberg is looking forward to supporting scholarly communication at Villanova University. “I plan to do a lot of outreach and education around scholarly communication issues including open access, authors’ rights, establishing a scholarly profile, choosing a publisher, and more.”
She will also be working to further develop the library’s scholarly communication initiatives including the Scholarship Open Access Reserve (SOAR) Fund. “SOAR can help you pay fees associated with open access publishing. I dream of one day establishing an institutional repository to support self-archiving. I am also very interested in pursuing some of the many other strategies by which libraries can support open access.”
In her free time, Foasberg enjoys playing board games. “I’ve been playing Eurogames since around 2004, but more recently have also come to appreciate more story-driven campaign-style games, since they play well with two players in quarantine conditions. I’ve enjoyed all three Pandemic Legacy games (yes, I decided to play Pandemic during a pandemic!), Gloomhaven, and most of all, Sleeping Gods, with its beautiful artwork, complicated world, and the ability to play on an atlas. Having taken up competitive games again, though, I have really been enjoying Woodcraft, by Vladimir Suchy, who may well be my favorite of all game designers.”
Her reading recommendations for Falvey staff: “Right now, I’m in the middle of two series. The first is Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch series; so far, I’ve only read the first book, Ancillary Justice, which is incredible. It’s a story about a sentient spaceship, but it’s also a brilliant examination of identity and imperialism, set in an absolutely fascinating world (or set of worlds). It’s astonishing in all the ways that the best science fiction is, and I’m eager to read the other books in this series. I’m also re-reading Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea series, a classic which I revisit quite often.”
She is looking forward to getting to know the community and encourages faculty, students, and staff to reach out. “I’m happy to be here, and I’m available to answer questions about copyright, publishing, and related subjects.” Foasberg’s office (218C) is on the second floor of Falvey Library.
Email nancy.foasberg@villanova.edu; 610-519-5075.