Nena Couch

Nena Couch is the Head of Area Studies and Thompson Library Special Collections at The Ohio State University Libraries. Her combined role for the two departments is to advance research, teaching and learning; enable engagement with global initiatives; and enhance the ongoing national and international reputations of Area Studies and Special Collections through strategic collection building, focused patron services, and purposeful programming and outreach.

Nena joined The Ohio State University Libraries as the first curator of the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute. She holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Theatre, and is a category-P member of the OSU Graduate Faculty. Her research is in performing arts librarianship and the performing arts with an emphasis on Spanish dance of the 16^th-18^th centuries, and Czech theatre scenography.  Awards include the Harvard Houghton Library’s Rothschild Fellowship for Research in Dance, Theatre Library Association Distinguished Service in Performing Arts Librarianship Award, OSU Libraries’ Tiefel Achievement in Teaching Award, and the Slovene Research Initiative Faculty Exchange of The Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies and the Research Center of the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts.  She has served on the boards of the Theatre Library Association, the Dance Heritage Coalition, and the International Association of Libraries and Museums of the Performing Arts (SIBMAS).