Jared Hooten is a Library Research Specialist driven by an unwavering passion for libraries as essential public goods and democratic cornerstones. Deeply committed to radical empathy and human connection, Jared excels at bridging diverse socioeconomic and cross-cultural communities, ensuring every patron and student experiences transformative, inclusive and memorable library service.
As an emerging leader and strategist, Jared’s long-term professional vision centers on executive library leadership and state- and national-level advocacy. He aims to lead high-impact coalitions, forge critical stakeholder partnerships and champion aggressive legislative and policy support for both public and academic libraries. Beyond advocacy and leadership development, Jared's work and graduate research focus on critical information literacy, privacy, AI ethics and student-centered badging initiatives, equipping users with the tools, agency and critical skills needed to navigate a complex information world.
Jared Hooten
Library Research Specialist
Staff
Libraries:
Teaching, Research, and Engagement
Jared Hooten
Library Research Specialist
Staff
Libraries:
Teaching, Research, and Engagement
Profile
Degrees
- B.A. Music and Philosophy., Capital University (2011)
- M.L.I.S., Kent State University (in progress)
Professional Activities
- Member, Academic Library Association of Ohio (ALAO)
- Member, American Library Association (ALA)
- Member, Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL)
Research Interests
- Strategic library advocacy and policy: State and national stakeholder engagement, multi-stakeholder diplomacy, political coalition building, persuasive communication and empirical research on libraries' public good and institutional value.
- Critical information literacy and pedagogy: Pedagogy of digital privacy, critical media literacy, AI literacy and aggressive curriculum integration to build student agency.
- Instructional innovation and credentials: Gamification, micro-credentialing and digital badging frameworks in higher education to drive student buy-in and skill mastery.
- Strategic marketing and patron co-creation: Library marketing campaigns, advocacy-driven public relations and frameworks that highlight patron contributions and reciprocity within library systems.
- User experience and culturally responsive service: Designing transformative patron and student experiences through empathetic front-line staff training, cross-cultural competence and socioeconomic awareness.
- Library workforce equity: Organizational compensation structures, pay transparency, worker equity and wage disparities between frontline staff and administration.
AI in Librarianship
- Utilizing generative AI tools to streamline instructional design and workflows while maintaining a strict "human-in-the-loop" framework.
- Drawing on graduate coursework in AI, Society, and Ethics, develop student-centered instruction that emphasizes that while AI offers powerful computational utility, critical human oversight, ethical evaluation and information verification remain non-negotiable to combat misinformation and protect intellectual integrity.
AI in Research
- Engaging in graduate-level research on AI, society and ethics to explore the boundary between high-utility algorithmic processing and the necessity of human oversight in research and writing.
- Research interests include the pedagogy of AI literacy, evaluating hallucination and mis/disinformation risks in generative models, algorithmic privacy and badging models that certify students' ability to responsibly audit and govern AI tools.