Koontz pioneered the critical need to understand the geographic and spatial nature of individual libraries, by collecting data that describe people who use a single library, and what materials and services they use, and approximating the distance they will travel for library services. Koontz won the prestigious Carroll Baber Research Award from the American Library Association, to identify differences in use patterns amongst communities comprised of people with greater or lesser income, education, and racial diversity. This research led to a nationwide study identifying 3500 lower income and majority minority library markets, describing how people within these markets use materials and services in the library. This type of in-library use is rarely collected by public libraries, and provides a picture of the critical and diverse information needs of people who have less discretionary time, and are less likely to have the library and reading habit. Other research studies can be found on the Projects page, as well as listed in the Publications page of this website.

Koontz' research is the basis of the U.S. Public Library Geographic Database (accessible through this site.) The database includes relevant US census data and library use data from 16,000 communities. Koontz teaches marketing domestically and abroad, is a columnist for Marketing Library Services, published by Information Today www.infotoday.com. Koontz is an associate in information studies at the College of Information, facilitating recruitment, teaching marketing, and serving as the excutive director of Beta Phi Mu International Library and Information Studies Honor Society <http://www.beta-phi-mu.org/>.

GeoLib
College of Information
The Florida State University
Louis Shores Building (MC2100)
142 Collegiate Loop
PO Box 3062100
Tallahassee, FL 32306-2100
Phone: (850) 645-7145
Fax: (850) 645-7987
E-mail: CKoontz@ci.fsu.edu