This is an /about page! I'll probably fill it with possibly useless information about myself. Last updated: 2026-09-13
My name is Kimberly. I've been extremely online since 1995. I'm building this website by following along with Blake Watson's web book, HTML for People, because I missed plain old HTML and wanted to get back to basics. I always feel a little more like myself when building a website.
Professionally, I'm a school librarian and am leaning in to making my whole personality just "BOOKS!" I'm also somebody's mom. I manage a whole bunch of chronic illnesses with varying levels of success. For funsies, I read, play video games, and craft. At times I've been heavily involved in community theater and improv comedy. I like to play tabletop RPGs but mostly only do so now as my kid's DM. I have a PhD in Information and Library Science.
Timeline for context:
- 1981: born in central Florida
- 1983: moved to Florida's Space Coast
- 1988: moved to Tallahassee, Florida
- 1990: moved to Durham, North Carolina and then back to Tallahassee, Florida
- 1991: moved back to Durham, North Carolina
- 1995: did my first community theater production, got a book about programming HTML for Netscape Navigator
- 1998: performed in Brigadoon with Young People's Performing Company, meeting my future husband W. during the production
- 1999: started college at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC-CH), got a PlayStation (my first video game console, a gift from W.)
- 2002ish: started playing D&D
- 2003: graduated with a BA in Classics (Latin) and Dramatic Art from UNC-CH, started MA in Teaching at UNC-CH
- 2004: learned to crochet, graduated with MAT from UNC-CH, moved to western North Carolina to teach Latin in Wilkes County
- 2005: moved back to Durham, started teaching Latin in Chapel Hill
- 2006: started performing Gilbert & Sullivan operettas with the Durham Savoyards, started teaching Latin in Raleigh, North Carolina
- 2009: left teaching, started MS in Library Science at UNC-CH
- 2011: graduated with MSLS from UNC-CH, started working as middle school librarian in Granville County, North Carolina
- 2012: left Granville County job, started working as Managing Editor for LEARN NC, an outreach program of the UNC-CH School of Education
- 2014: started taking comedy writing and improv classes
- 2015: left LEARN NC job, started performing improv regularly, started PhD in Information and Library Science at UNC-CH
- 2016: gave birth to my son, M.
- 2016: began work on Project READY, a series of free, online professional development modules for school and public youth services librarians, library administrators, and others interested in improving their knowledge about race and racism, racial equity, and culturally sustaining pedagogy
- 2019: released Project READY
- 2021: graduated with PhD from UNC-CH
- 2022: started post-doctoral fellowship at the University of California, Irvine (remote)
- 2023: traveled to the Netherlands, Germany, Scotland, Ireland, England, and France accompanying W. on his Fulbright-Schuman Award trip
- 2024: started working as an elementary school librarian at an independent Quaker school in Durham
💌 Email me at hello@kimberlyhirsh.com.