Kate Mercer is the liaison librarian for Systems Design Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering and Earth & Environmental Sciences at the University of Waterloo. Kate's job includes collaborating with faculty, staff, and students to effectively provide instruction and support research. By providing support around subject-specific and interdisciplinary research Kate both supports and collaborates in driving research forward. In general, Kate's research interests span understanding how health information and technology interact, with her primary research focus is on how people are accessing, understanding and disseminating information. Kate also researchs in how engineering and science students navigate information seeking, and how to understand how framing critical appraisal can facilitate both learning and professional practice in the real world.
Kate graduated with a MI from the University of Toronto in 2011 focusing her degree on data and competitive intelligence. After working in corporate strategy and management, Kate then moved into understanding information flows in a health context and in 2019 graduated with her PhD from the University of Waterloo’s School of Pharmacy, dissertation titled "Communicating health information in primary care: a multidisciplinary exploration of patient, pharmacist, and physician decision-making."