Selin attendedBinghamton University, where she earned her bachelor's degree.[1] She received her MLS fromSUNY Albany.[1] She was aPeace Corps volunteer from the fall of 1967 through the summer of 1969 as a teacher of English and African History inKaronga, Malawi.[1] She retired in 2012 from being the science librarian atHampshire College.
Selin is known for being the editor ofEncyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures (1997, 2008 and third edition 2016) which is one of the first books which allows readers to "compare a variety of traditional systems of mathematics and cosmologies."[2]Mathematics Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Mathematics (2000), is considered byMathematical Intelligencer as a companion to theEncyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures.[3] The journal,Mathematics and Computer Education, wrote thatMathematics Across Cultures filled a gap in thehistory of mathematics and was "an exciting collection of papers onethnomathematics."[4] Selin's editorial work, Nature Across Cultures: Views of Nature and the Environment in Non-Western Cultures (2003), was considered byPolylog to be a "valuable source for intercultural philosophers."[5] Selin edited theEncyclopaedia of Classical Indian Sciences (2007).[6] She has also edited several more books in the Science Across Cultures series: Medicine Across Cultures, Nature and the Environment Across Cultures, Childbirth Across Cultures, Parenting Across Cultures (second edition 2022), Happiness Across Cultures, Death Across Cultures and Aging Across Cultures.