Meet the Librarian

Mike Fein

Mike Fein has been the Coordinator of Library Services at Central Virginia Community College in Lynchburg, Virginia for almost 12 years.

Mike received a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in Russian Language and Literature. While attending library school, he completed practicums in both academic and public libraries, which gave him valuable insight into the library world. Mike decided that librarianship was a marketable trade, and took his first library position in a public library. After several years in public and institutional libraries, Mike found a position at a community college library that was a nice "middle ground" between four-year schools and public libraries.

In Mike's current position as Coordinator of Library Services at CVCC and as a part of his duties as director of the library, he is responsible for keeping instructors informed of new library resources. Through their Library Instruction Program, which is directed at specific classes as well as the general student body, instructors and students become more knowledgeable about the resources that are available at the library.

When not serving as a communications liaison for the library, Mike assists with library renovation projects. The CVCC Library was completely renovated two years ago, and staff had to move their library services to a temporary location on campus, which included moving their entire scholarly collection. Two years later, the fruits of their labor are paying off as the library saw 55,000 visitors from Spring 2011 through Summer 2011. In an effort to increase visitors and provide patrons with immediate access to content, Baker & Taylor and YBP quickly deliver titles from noteworthy and academic best-sellers.

In response to the future of community college libraries, Mike emphasized the importance of his library expanding the amount of library instruction sessions as well as better utilizing various social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter.

When Mike is not busy assisting instructors and students at the library, you can find him as a member of the Virginia Defense Force assisting the National Guard in their response to natural disasters and other emergencies. Virginia, like slightly over half of the states and Puerto Rico, has a Home/State Guard component of its military, and Mike is ranked as a Major in this group.