Contact Us

Reference & Electronic Services Librarian

Karen Kronenberg

Education
B.A. University of Wisconsin at Madison
J.D. University of Houston
M.L.S. University of North Texas

Areas of Expertise
Legal Research
Access to Electronic Materials
Teaching Distance Learning Courses

Before joining South Texas College of Law Houston in April of 2006 as the Reference and Electronic Services Librarian, Karen Kronenberg worked at Florida Coastal as a Reference Librarian and Adjunct Professor, where she taught a distance learning course in legal research. At South Texas College of Law Houston, she gives Reference service and manages access to the Fred Parks Law Library’s electronic materials, including Westlaw, LexisNexis, and Bloomberg Law.

Karen holds memberships and is active in librarian organizations at the local and regional level, including Houston Area Law Librarians (HALL), Southwestern Association of Law Libraries (SWALL), Southeastern Association of Law Libraries (SEALL), and American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). Before becoming a law librarian, Karen practiced law in Texas.

Special Collections Librarian & College Archivist

Heather Kushnerick

Education
B.A. University of Texas at Arlington
M.A. University of Texas at Arlington
M.L.S. University of North Texas

Areas of Expertise
Legal Research
Texas Legal History

Heather Kushnerick joined South Texas College of Law Houston in 2008 as the Special Collections Librarian. She previously worked in museums and taught history at several community colleges in north Texas. Heather develops and oversees the Library’s rare books collection, manuscript collections, digital collections, and the College archive. In addition, she is part of the reference staff and conducts legal research workshops. She is a Certified Archivist.

Heather holds memberships and is active in many professional organizations, including Houston Area Law Librarians (HALL), Southwestern Association of Law Libraries (SWALL), American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), Society of Southwest Archivists (SSA), Society of American Archivist (SAA), and the Academy of Certified Archivists (ACA).

Associate Director of Public Services

Monica Ortale

Education
B.A. University of Denver
M.I.L.M., University of Denver
J.D., South Texas College of Law Houston

Areas of Expertise
Legal Research & Writing
International & Foreign Law

Monica M. Ortale joined South Texas College of Law Houston in 1982 as a Circulation Librarian. During her career at South Texas, Monica has held a variety of positions and taught Legal Research & Writing, as well as regularly conducting guest lectures in other courses. Her primary responsibilities include supervising reference, patron services, interlibrary loan, and government documents and she participates in the administration of the Library.

Monica holds memberships and is active in various professional organizations, including Houston Area Law Librarians (HALL), Southwestern Association of Law Libraries (SWALL), American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), and International Association of Law Libraries (IALL). She held the office of President for both HALL and SWALL. On the national level, she co-chaired the local arrangement committee for AALL’s annual meeting in San Antonio in 2005.

Core Operations Librarian

Barbara Szalkowski

Education
B.A., Rice University
M.L.I.S., University of Texas at Austin

Areas of Expertise
Cataloging & Metadata
Integrated Library System

Barbara Szalkowski joined South Texas College of Law Houston in 1985 as Catalog Librarian, initially to digitize existing print cataloging records, but within a year, assumed responsibility for cataloging records for all library materials and eventually also for the integrated library system. Barbara’s responsibilities also now include supervising collection acquisitions and continuations, and providing regular reference service.

Barbara holds memberships in various professional organizations, including Houston Area Law Librarians (HALL), Southwestern Association of Law Libraries (SWALL), and American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). She served as the HALL newsletter editor for over 15 years and received HALL’s first Volunteer of the Year award. On the national level, she has served on the Executive Boards of both the Technical Services (TS) and the Online Bibliographic Services (OBS) Special Interest Sections (SIS) of AALL.

Collection Coordinator

Laura Edstrom

Patron Services Manager

Felicia Escalera

Continuations & Accounts Coordinator

Jeannie M. Mazzone

Director of the The Fred Parks Law Library & Assistant Professor of Law

Colleen C. Manning

Education
B.S., University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
J.D., University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
M.S., Library & Information Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Areas of Expertise
Legal Research & Writing
Library Administration

Colleen C. Manning joined South Texas College of Law Houston in January 2015 as the Director of The Fred Parks Law Library and Assistant Professor of Law.  Professor Manning teaches the Advanced Legal Research Skills course and regularly guest lectures in other courses.  In addition, to legal research, she has taught and written in the area of elder law.  She is active and held positions of leadership in national, regional, and local law librarian organizations.   Prior to joining South Texas College of Law Houston, Professor Manning held various positions at Florida Coastal School of Law and Ohio Northern University.  She also was a research attorney for Meyer, Capel, Hirshfeld, Muncy, Jahn & Aldeen, P.C.   Professor Manning is licensed to practice law in Illinois and Florida.