She is the Director of the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

[1] Chu completed her undergraduate education from the University of British Columbia, majoring in Spanish literature.

[1][4] She graduated from the University of Western Ontario with master's and doctoral degrees in library and information science.

[4] She is a former president of the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE).

[7] She co-wrote a work exploring the value of internship as a form of experiential learning in library and information science education.