CAROLINE COUGHLIN, Ph.D. '66 

Library Director

Drew University 

Caroline Coughlin still vividly remembers taking the D Train that fall morning in 1962, and heading to Dobbs Ferry. She remembers the names of students with whom she spoke. She even recalls jokes that were made. That day is indelibly etched in her memory for a good reason - it was her first day of college, and the beginning of what would become a lifetime of growth and exploration.

Her time at Mercy, then a women's college, convinced her she didn't have to settle for a mere job as most working women then did - she set her sights on a career.

Coupled with her passion for reading, Goughlin's English degree from Mercy proved the perfect foundation for her subsequent work. She earned a master's degree in Librarianship from Emory University, and her doctorate in Library Service from Rutgers University in 1976. She earned her Ph.D.during a time when most librarians were women but men still comprised the vast majority of library school professors, library directors, and even librarians with doctorates. To this day, she considers herself an activist in her profession, always in pursuit of improvement.

Coughlin has served as a coadjunct faculty member in Rutger's School of Communication, Information and Library Studies since 1993, teaching a variety of classes and lectured on library-related topics throughout the United States and abroad. Her writing has been published in a variety of mediums, ranging from journals to textbooks. She has even served as a ghostwriter for a Hungarian-American Holocaust survivor writing her memoirs.

Coughlin has developed numerous courses, lectures, and related materials for classes designed for both professionals and students of library science. She broadened the scope of her instruction in 1999 when she taught a web-based course for the University of Illinois' Graduate School of Library Science.