Laurence was raised in a small town in Georgia by non-Southern parents. He attended the University of West Georgia with the intention of getting a degree in Computer Science, but eventually decided to major in Philosophy. Eventually, he decided to go to the School of Library and Information Science at Kent State University to get his MLIS. While working as a cataloging student assistant, he also earned an MA in Philosophy. Laurence worked as an adjunct Catalog Library at Kent State before coming to Hiram College.

Education

• MA in Philosophy, Kent State University, 2015
• MLIS, Kent State University, 2011
• BA in Philosophy, University of West Georgia, 2001

Areas of Interest

• Laurence’s areas of interests include metadata creation and standards, linked data, ethical theory, applied ethics, philosophy of science, philosophy of cognitive science, epistemology.

Publications

• Zeng, M.L., Gracy, K.F. & Skirvin, L. (2013) “Navigating the intersection of library bibliographic data and linked music information sources: A study in the identification of useful metadata elements for interlinking,” Journal of Library Metadata. 13(2-3): 254-278
• Gracy, K.F., Zeng, M.L., & Skirvin, L. (2013). “Exploring methods to improve access to Music resources by aligning library Data with Linked Data: A Report of Methodologies and preliminary findings,” Journal of the American Society for Information Science & Technology, 64(10), 2078-2099.

Fun Facts

• Laurence enjoys gaming of every sort. He’s particularly fond of video games and tabletop roleplaying games such as Dungeons & Dragons and Shadowrun. He’s also an avid Magic: The Gathering player. His favorite Magic format is Commander.