He holds a Ph.D in English with an emphasis in critical theory from the University of California, Irvine and a masters in library and information science from the University of Pittsburgh. He has written a book on madness in the fiction of Charles Dickens, as well as book chapters and articles on the 19th Century British novel and on Anglo-American fantasy literature, particularly the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. He is also the North American Editor of Reference Reviews and Administrator of the Mythopoeic Fantasy and Scholarship Awards, and serves in many leadership roles for various library and literary associations. He has widely presented and published on topics ranging from emerging technologies in libraries and scholarly communication to the history of the book.