Dan Williford

Dan Williford is a librarian and instructor at the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, where he works in the Alfred R. Goldstein Library supporting research and teaching information literacy and writing for students in art and design disciplines. His work bridges librarianship, book history, and literary scholarship, with particular emphasis on the material and bibliographic afterlives of Oscar Wilde.

Williford’s research focuses on the development of queer bibliography, a critical approach to bibliography that examines how acts of collecting, listing, cataloging, and enumerating texts shape the historical record of queer literature. His work investigates the transnational circulation of Wilde’s writings in the early twentieth century, tracing the networks of editors, translators, collectors, and publishers who helped reconstruct Wilde’s literary reputation after his death. In particular, he studies the bibliographic labor of figures such as Christopher Sclater Millard and Robert Ross, whose archival and bibliographic efforts played a central role in preserving Wilde’s work and shaping its reception across Britain, Europe, and the United States.

In addition to his research, Williford teaches courses in writing, literature, and media studies that incorporate critical information literacy, encouraging students to examine how knowledge is produced, mediated, and contested across print and digital environments. His teaching and scholarship share a common focus on the cultural work performed by libraries, archives, and bibliographic documentation in shaping literary history.

Contact Dan any time at dpwilliford@gmail.com or using this Contact Form.