Position
Information Literacy Librarian
Education
- Master of Library and Information Science, Kent State University
- BA, Dual: Film Studies and Communication, University of Pittsburgh
Background & Areas of Expertise
- Information Literacy
- Library Equity & Inclusivity
- Film Studies
- Media Production
- Comics Studies
Please explore my research guides, and don’t hesitate to contact me for help throughout your research process, from developing a topic, to identifying and evaluating sources, to citing sources!
I began my career as a video editor and enjoy films of a variety of genres from around the world. I became a librarian due to my interest in media education and the power of worldviews on actions and policy. I work to help people integrate information literacy into their daily lives, and my research focuses on the role of superhero media in developing cultural understandings about justice.
Selected Publications & Presentations
Boucher, I. (Ed.). (2017). Humans and paragons: Essays on super-hero justice. Sequart Organization.
Boucher, I. (2017, October 18). Cultivating critical discourse with a library movie group. Presented at the North Carolina Library Association (NCLA) 62nd Biennial Conference, Winston-Salem, NC.
Boucher, I. (2018). Applying suspense to archetypal superheroes: Hitchcockian ambiguity in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Mise-en-scène: The Journal of Film & Visual Narration, 3(1), 52-67.
Boucher, I. (2018). Casting a wider lasso: An analysis of the cultural dismissal of Wonder Woman through her 1975-1979 television series. Popular Culture Review, 29(2), 151-191.
Boucher, I. (2018, October 20). Assembling the ancestral frame: Successful comic book ambiguity in Captain America: Civil War and Black Panther. Presented at Graphic Justice Discussions 2018, St. Francis College, NY.
Boucher, I. (2019). Buttressed beliefs, informed action: Black Lives Matter, an academic library and building critical community discourse. In S. Epstein, C. Smallwood, & V. Gubnitskaia (Eds.), Social justice and activism in libraries: Essays on diversity and change (pp. 21-28). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.
Boucher, I. (2019). Case study: Creating free online branching games with PowerPoint skills. In J. E. Pitts, L. Bonella, J. M. Coleman, & A. Wathen (Eds.), Library services for online patrons: A manual for facilitating access, learning, and engagement (pp. 94-96). Libraries Unlimited, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC.
Boucher, I. (2020, October 10). Black Lives Matter and the unmasking of America’s superheroes. Recorded invited lecture for Festiwal DwuTakt Renesans Superbohaterów. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWA8S9o6hlo
Boucher, I. (2021). Forging Kryptonite: Lex Luthor’s xenophobia as societal fracturing, from Batman v Superman to Supergirl. In J. Darowski (Ed.), Adapting Superman: Essays on the transmedia Man of Steel (pp. 216-234). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.
Boucher, I. (forthcoming). Barbara Gordon as information literacy activist in Batgirl: Son of Penguin. In C. Syma, R. G. Weiner, & D. Callender (Eds.), Drawn to the stacks: Essays on libraries, librarians and archives in comics and graphic novels. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.
Boucher, I. (in progress). Radical franchise: The political coming-of-age of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The University Press of Mississippi.
Sundbom, A., & Boucher, I. (2017, October 20). NCWCritters: An augmented reality scavenger hunt for first year undergraduate students. Presented at the North Carolina Library Association (NCLA) 62nd Biennial Conference, Winston-Salem, NC.