Work-Related Things
For most of my career, I've been a Young Adult Specialist. In public libraries, "Young Adult" generally refers to the 12-18 age bracket. So in other words... I was paid to keep up with the latest trends and interests of teenagers and try to make the library fit in their lives.
For nine years (1997 - 2005) I was the Young Adult Specialist for the Suffolk Cooperative Library System, in Bellport, NY. Wanna know more about what I did there? Check this out...YALSA once did a member Spotlight on me! Yippie!
I was lucky to inherit an amazing professional website, YA Librarians' Homepage, from the man who created it &, truth be told, made me want to be a YA librarian, Patrick Jones (before he was an awesome YA Author - seriously, go read some/all of this books!)
Here's an update from 2002 that I can't quite get myself to remove. Who knows when I'll get back in the NY Times?
(update 6/23/2002) Hey - how cool is this?!? Today *I* was quoted in the New York Times! In the article, "Tempting Students Away from Screens" by Joy Alter Hubel... section 14 (Long Island) page 11. =:-) And now if I search for myself in the NY Times database I get a hit... Mom woulda just loved this!
Funny thing... the article talks about the schools trying to include more "contemporary" books in their required reading lists... I'm quoted saying how few schools use contemporary YA Lit and all the examples showing how progressive some schools are... the examples are all *adult* novels... not a-one of them is a YA title.
In the Fall 2003, I tried my hand at teaching - I taught one of the "core courses" for most of the local MLS programs... the dreaded Fundamentals of Library Science for the School of Professional Development at Stony Brook University (where I completed my BA in Humanities with an English Minor in 1992) . The class was dreaded because the only thing more boring than the textbook is the way most instructors teach it. My goal was to make the class as interesting as possible & point out when/where some of this dry dry dry historical information might come in handy (aside from playing Jeopardy) in the real world. It was a fun experience but since it was a class I had slept through when I was forced to take it, it was hard to really have fun with it.
For the next two years I had the chance to have some serious fun - teaching Planning & Delivering YA Services in the Public Library for the Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Science, where I had the chance to work with one of the founders of VOYA (the leading journal in the field of Young Adult library services and books for teens) Mary K Chelton (who, unfortunately, wasn't at QC when I was a student).
For 4 years I was on the Editorial Board for VOYA - something I'm so very proud of having done, but wish I could have done more.
In 2006 I moved cross country to become the Manager of Young Adult Services for the Oakland Public Library, in Oakland, CA.
Then in July 2008, I started a job with the San José Public Library. In that job, I was the Senior Librarian/Branch Manager for the Berryessa Branch and (starting in July 09) the Alviso Branch, two of the system's 19 branches.
After getting the chance to do some wonderful library work in San José, I was emotionally beat up due to continuous threats of lay-offs. More than half a year would be spent worrying about the longevity of my & my employee's employment there. In the Union environment it is all seniority based layoffs... and in a big city, the news often starts with local budget woes - it was not fun.
In having a couple of years of layoff worries that ended with not being laid off, I had time to plan what I wanted to do next. worked with an awesome Life Coach, Kate Drayson, and decided I want to help people live happier, healthier lives and I plan to do that through books, Laughter Yoga and motivational speaking.
And when 2011 came and I got that layoff letter again, I knew I was going to take the leap - by layoff or by choice I was going to launch my own business.
In the summer of 2011, Rebel Librarian Productions was born. :-)
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If you like what you see... and even if you don't...e-mail me!
This page received some attention on 09/19/11 at about 11:04 AM