BiblioBios: Scholar, author, librarian, Thomas leverages experience to support researchers
For nearly a decade, Library Specialist Paul Thomas has been an integral part of the University of Kansas Libraries community, supporting students, researchers and colleagues through his work in library services and information management.
More specifically, Thomas supports KU Libraries’ graduate engagement efforts and serves as resident expert on citation management tools, Zotero and End Note, which allow researchers to build a collection of references, including citations, links, PDF files and notes, and create correctly formatted citations and a bibliography for papers written.
He’s also a prolific author himself with a growing portfolio that spans a wide range of topics including pop-culture fandom, Wikipedia, Civil War history and a guide to haunted places around Lawrence. The latter, “Haunted Lawrence,” was recently the focus of an exhibit by KU’s Institute for Digital Humanities (IDRH) at Haunting Humanities.
Thomas first arrived at the University of Kansas in 2011 as an undergraduate student from Ottawa, Kan. He remembers those years fondly, not just for the classes and coursework, but for the experience of living in the scholarship halls and making the daily walks up the hill. While a student, Thomas worked at The Toy Store on Massachusetts Street, earning “Best Window Display” in the 2015 Best of Lawrence competition, a hint of curiosity and creative ventures ahead. He also worked part-time on the weekends and during the summer as a library aide at the Ottawa Library.
Thomas earned his Bachelor of Arts in anthropology and classics at KU in 2015, and recalls the close-knit, one-on-one learning environment in the Classics Department as especially formative, working with faculty like Philip Stinson and Anthony Corbeill on projects that deepened his love of languages, literature and research.
Thomas went on to earn a Master of Arts in social science from the University of Chicago – a program he completed in one year - and encountered a different kind of academic world, one centered on methodology, theory and the comparative study of culture.
“I went to Chicago and that's where I got introduced to the complex world of social science and methodologies,” said Thomas.
But when he returned to Lawrence, an opportunity to work at KU Libraries shifted his focus.
“I wanted to pursue a career in a social science field, like anthropology or sociology, but when I got a job at KU Libraries, I very quickly found out that I've always been a library person,” said Thomas.
That realization led him to pursue a Ph.D. in library and information management from Emporia State University, which he completed in 2022, adding a certificate in film and media studies along the way. His research examined Wikipedia communities through an ethnographic lens, a qualitative approach to research that studies people and cultures by observing their behaviors, interactions and shared practices in context. Thomas later went on to earn a master’s degree in library science, also from Emporia State.
His dissertation, which examined Wikipedia through a social-scientific lens and focused on Wikipedia not only as a research tool but a cultural community, was expanded into a published book in 2022, “The Information Behavior of Wikipedia Fan Editors: A Digital (Auto)Ethnography.” Two years later, he published another Wikipedia-related book that expanded on a chapter of his literature review, “Inside Wikipedia: How It Works and How You Can Be an Editor.”
“A lot of what the library world has written about Wikipedia is how to use it, or why it's good or bad,” said Thomas. “I really wanted to look at the qualitative, social scientific side. Explore Wikipedia ethnographically, which is very much more of an anthropological sort of thing.”
Thomas emphasizes that most people don’t fully realize the complexity of Wikipedia’s ecosystem.
“A lot of people will see a page about whatever topic,” he said. “But it's a community. It's an ecosystem, a digital ecosystem.”
Sharing this perspective with students has been central to his teaching about information literacy.
“I think that the number one thing right now is going to be critical thinking and critical reading,” said Thomas. “The site (Wikipedia) has developed pretty rigorous sourcing rules about what citations are and aren't acceptable. Nowadays, in a world kind of swimming in misinformation, it's funny to look at those rules and realize that Wikipedia has a higher bar for what's accepted than a lot of traditional outlets.
“When I talk to students about critical reading, critical analysis, I often will show them the Wikipedia guidelines for how to determine if a site source is reliable or not.”
Beyond his work with Wikipedia, Thomas has also made contributions to the study of pop culture and fandom. As an undergraduate at KU, a friend introduced him to the animated series "Adventure Time." At first, Thomas thought it would be a quirky, nonsensical cartoon, but he soon discovered its depth.
“I was impressed with the depth and profundity of how they would go from a really crass joke to a very emotional beat in one minute,” he said.
That interest grew into a research and writing project of its own. He began blogging about the show, reviewing episodes and even reaching out to producers and writers for interviews. To his surprise, many responded. Over time, he compiled these insights into a comprehensive history of the series, first published by KU Libraries in 2020 and later expanded into another book - “Exploring the Land of Ooo: An Unofficial Overview and Production History of Cartoon Network's Adventure Time” - with the University Press of Mississippi in 2023.
For Thomas, the project was both a scholarly endeavor and a labor of love.
“I've always been interested in collecting information about a media object (film, TV, music - pop culture media),” he said. “I love lore, I love stories and I love hearing about how something was made, the production of something, what the person was thinking when they wrote something down.”
These experiences illustrate what Thomas values most, helping people make sense of information. Whether through research, teaching, or library services, he sees librarianship as a field that is evolving but deeply necessary.
“We’re in the middle of the AI revolution right now,” he noted.
With teachers and librarians among the professions expected to be augmented, not replaced, by AI, Thomas states that human guidance is needed.
“You're going to need a human to guide the ship and to teach people how to guide the ship for themselves,” he said.
At KU, Thomas has built a career around those principles. He enjoys the collaborative environment of KU Libraries and the opportunities to support students in their own research journeys.
When asked what advice he would give to students or early career researchers who want to study online communities, Thomas suggests starting with what you know.
“There's a lot of richness to be gained in studying a culture you're a member of,” Thomas said.
Thomas has wide-ranging interests, including those pop-culture fandoms - he’s also written a book about Harry Potter-inspired “Wizard Rock” - to history, including a recently published book about the Civil War in Kansas and his book about haunted places in Lawrence. Thomas’ next literary venture might expound on his fondness for bats - which he encounters from time to time in Watson Library.
“I just think they’re neat,” he admitted, “and woefully misunderstood.”
Until then, Thomas is hanging out at his home on the Hill, where he’s a regular contributor to the graduate engagement initiative Fridays on Fourth. His journey as an undergraduate Jayhawk has come full circle into a career helping others navigate the evolving landscape of information.
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