Michele Wiens is a librarian for the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) within the College for Interdisciplinary Studies at UBC. Michele coordinates knowledge management initiatives and maintains HELP’s large database and library collection of items related to child development, socioeconomic factors and health.

Michele has played a key role in the growth of HELP (est. 2000/2001), facilitating its development into an internationally recognized and unique research network that integrates the behavioural and social sciences with biomedical sciences to study life course development, with a particular focus on early child development. HELP’s core partnership comprises over 200 faculty, graduate students and researchers from BC universities. Funded in part by the BC Ministries of Children & Family Development, Education, and Healthy Living and Sport, HELP works closely with government and communities to understand how different environments contribute to different developmental outcomes for children. HELP researchers focus on the early years and by connecting research to children’s real worlds, HELP makes a difference.

Formerly Michele was the communications director as well as senior manager for strategic operations and knowledge management for HELP.  Also, she was the privacy officer and acting manager for the Aboriginal Steering Committee, supported by HELP. She played a key role in initiating the Early Child Development Mapping Project, which is a flagship research project based on the Early Development Instrument that monitors children’s developmental readiness in British Columbia and other provinces and territories.

Michele has two Master’s degrees: an MLIS completed in 2008 in in the UBC School of Library, Archival and Information Studies; and an MA completed in 1986 in Geography and Epidemiology from UBC.
Michele maintains an active teaching role as a regular sessional lecturer in the Geography Department at Simon Fraser University. Complementing her health research and teaching experience of 24 years, Michele is involved with health and public librarianship as an auxiliary library for the Vancouver Public Library. She is keen in assisting with information and research needs, creating enabling learning environments, and maintaining currency with web initiatives and social media.