Damiana Koutsomiha is the Head Librarian of Dimitris & Aliki Perrotis Library. She holds a BSc on Library and Information Systems and a MScEcon on Management of Library and Information Services from the University of Aberystwyth, Wales. She promotes library services to the community through education, outreach and participation in professional conferences, trainings, publications and research groups. Her research interests cover a range of issues such as digital literacies, evaluation of Web resources, knowledge management, library instruction.

Over the years her vision and mission as a librarian has taken concrete form: to strengthen the learning process of students and provide the means and foundations through teaching for the development of critical thinking in the chaos of information as well as the fundamental value of lifelong learning. When not teaching she likes to return to her first favorite job as librarian: identifying information and reaching where her users cannot and ultimately provide them with the necessary tools to reach the desired information on their own.

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Email: dkouts@afs.edu.gr | Tel. +30 2310 492 889 | skype: damiana.koutsomiha1

Fotini Traka is the Cataloging Librarian at Dimitris & Aliki Perrotis Library. She received a BSc in Library and Information Systems from Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki in 2000. From 2001 to the present her main labor and responsibility has been to apply special cataloging for the library holdings in order to create electronic library catalogs for its users. In addition to the above, she answers reference questions, serves the library’s users at the front desk and educates users at OPAC, personally or through organized presentations.

All of her experience with the process of building a catalog has made her appreciate the value of a good, organized library catalog and how this catalog can make people’s lives easier in a library. She believes that every catalog is a "living organism" her main target is to maintain, supplement, enrich  and update all library catalogs of the American Farm School educational programs, so that in the future every user can adapt a paraphrase to a row of G. Ritsos’ poem "And so, my brother": "I'd organize for you, in an hour / a hundred catalogs like these. / That’s what we want"...

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Email: ftraka@afs.edu.gr | Tel. +30 2310 492 883

Iro Sotiriadou is the Perrotis College Liaison Librarian working at the "Dimitris & Aliki Perrotis" Central Library of the AFS and is responsible for managing the Library's electronic resources. She holds a BA in English Language and Literature and an MA in Translation Studies both from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, as well as a BSc in Library Science and Information Systems from the Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki. Iro focuses on serving library users and promoting library services through the development of electronic resources (online subject and information literacy guides, library's website development, etc.) and digital curation of the library's digital assets (digital Archives, Institutional Repository, etc.). Iro also provides research and referencing assistance and guidance to the Perrotis College students and faculty. She gives library orientation tours to Perrotis College freshmen and, along with the Heal Librarian, she gives bibliographic instruction courses. Iro participates in professional conferences and online training seminars, and her research interests include digital curation, knowledge management and evaluation, the use of web technologies in libraries, teacher librarianship, and embedded librarianship.

During the years working as a librarian, her mission and vision have shifted in turning the Library's patrons from passive and dependent users to active and independent users and learners, by promoting metacognitive strategies in library instruction. She values the importance of lifelong learning and cherishes the significance of cultivating students' research skills and critical thinking.

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Email: isotir@afs.edu.gr | Tel. +30 2310 492882 (@ the "Dimitris & Aliki Perrotis" Central Library)

Sissy Bamba has worked as a library assistant at the ‘Dimitris and Aliki Perrotis’ library since 1999, and she is responsible for the circulation of library materials. Her studies in Mathematics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the experience gained from her cooperation with her librarian colleagues have allowed her to combine the two disciplines and discover how the two fields connect in new and creative ways.  

Sissy is the first person who visitors see when they enter our library and a reference guide for any question. Her tasks are not limited to the functions of a Library circulation desk; she deals with new material purchases, monitors the Library’s budget, and performs various other activities aimed at maintaining the library’s operation as smoothly as possible. Her goal every day is to promote services that will inform and educate the Library’s patrons.

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Email: sbamba@afs.edu.gr | Tel. +30 2310 492 880

AnnaLeah Lacoss is the Gregory Maguire Writing Fellow for the 2025-2026 school year. She recently graduated from Hope College in Michigan, USA with majors in English and Global Studies and a minor in Peace and Justice Studies. She previously worked on the student leadership team of the Klooster Center for Excellence in Writing at Hope College, as well as working as an assistant editor for the Bulletin of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion. 

During writing center appointments, her goal is to empower students by giving them the tools to successfully edit their own writing. She believes that meetings in the writing center should be collaborative conversations, where students become equipped to hone in on their unique writing voices.

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E-mail: writingfellow@afs.edu.gr

Levi Hughes is the Library Archivist Fellow at the "Dimitris & Aliki Perrotis" Library located at the AFS. He holds a BA in American Studies and a minor in Asian American Studies from Williams College, Massachusetts. During his time at Williams, he was both a Special Collections intern and Public Humanities Fellow researching institutional history and the development of colonial education within the American missionary movement.

Among many goals, Levi hopes to assist in archival development and education, helping patrons explore the rich history of this institution along with connecting the AFS history to many other histories.