Biography of Barbara McNeil

Dr. Barbara McNeil is a dynamic and engaging speaker and scholar who has presented papers at a variety of venues across Canada and the world. Dr. McNeil is an Assistant Professor in Language and Literacy in the Faculty of Education at the University of Regina (Saskatchewan, Canada). She completed her Bachelor of Arts and Master's of Library Science degrees at the University of Toronto, a Bachelor of Education at Brock University, and her doctoral studies at the University of Regina. Dr. McNeil's doctoral research explored teachers' perspectives on transience and literacy in urban community schools in Saskatchewan. Prior to joining the Faculty of Education, Dr. McNeil worked as a teacher-librarian in elementary and secondary schools, as a library consultant, and as a French immersion teacher. Her interest in global education, led to a three year teaching experience in Botswana, and training teachers in the eastern Caribbean nation of Dominica.

Recently, she offered a workshop at Dance and the Child (DaCi) international conference in Kingston, Jamaica (August 2009) and presented a paper at the 38th conference of the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL) in Italy (September 2009). Dr. McNeil received considerable expressions of appreciation after her presentation at the 2008 IASL conference in Berkeley, California and thereafter was invited to present to teacher-librarians in Victoria, British Columbia in October 2008. In November 2008 she offered two "hit