Kristin LaLonde is an Access Services Librarian and Circulation Department Manager at the Chippewa River District Library in Mt. Pleasant, MI. Kristin received her MLIS from Wayne State University in 2011. She began her library career as a Special Librarian at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, MI and has worked in multiple kinds of libraries throughout her life. Most librarians from the Internet probably know her as @shinyinfo on Twitter. Her hobbies include watching Murder, She Wrote, giving people a hard time and bro-ing out.
Kelly is a former librarian and a blogger at STACKED and BOOK RIOT. She loves black licorice and debating genre. Her book, It Happens: A Guide to Contemporary Realistic Fiction for the YA Reader, will be released in August 2014. Follow her on Twitter @catagator.
Mary Kelly received an MBA and an MLIS from Wayne State University, after which she has spent years irritating co-workers with grand plans for collection development and/or world domination. She is currently working as a Youth Services Librarian at the Lyon Township Public Library, molding young minds through Toddler Disco. Mary’s OCD tendencies have turned into a crusade for collection quality and a clean shelf list (which she carries in her purse).
Holly Hibner also received an MLIS degree from Wayne State University. She can be found heading up the Adult Services Department at the Plymouth District Library. Hibner struts her stuff around the library looking super cool while bending technology to her will. She is still riding high and pulling every ounce of glory out of her 2007 Loleta Fyan Award from the Michigan Library Association.
Holly and Mary managed to publish a charming little tome called “Making a Collection Count: A Holistic Approach to Collection Management.” (The second edition is available now!) Reading it will surely change your life, along with their popular web site “Awful Library Books.”
James LaRue has appeared on NPR, been quoted and highlighted in Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and the Denver Post, and has hosted a local author interview TV program. A newspaper columnist for over two decades, he also wrote “The New Inquisition: Understanding and Managing Intellectual Freedom Challenges” (Libraries Unlimited, 2007). A frequent presenter for library associations, regional workshops, and library staff days, Jamie has also served as a facilitator, last-minute panelist, moderator, and master of ceremonies for everything from debates to awards dinners. From 1990 to 2014, he was director of the Douglas County (Colorado) Libraries, widely known as one of the most successful and innovative public libraries in the nation. He was the Colorado Librarian of the Year in 1998, the Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce’s 2003 Business Person of the Year, in 2007 won the Julie J. Boucher (boo-SHAY) Award for Intellectual Freedom, and in 2013 won the Colorado Association of Libraries’ Career Achievement Award. At the end of 2013, the Board of Trustees named a library after him in Highlands Ranch, CO – the James H. LaRue Library. In 2014, he embarked on a career of writing, speaking, teaching, and consulting.
Dan Cohen is the Founding Executive Director of the Digital Public Library of America, where he works to further the DPLA’s mission to make the cultural and scientific heritage of humanity available, free of charge, to all. Prior to his tenure, Dan was a Professor of History and the Director of the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. At the Center, Dan oversaw projects ranging from new publishing ventures (PressForward) to online collections (September 11 Digital Archive) to software for scholarship (the popular Zotero research tool). His books include Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving, and Presenting the Past on the Web (with Roy Rosenzweig) and Equations from God: Pure Mathematics and Victorian Faith. Dan was an inaugural recipient of the American Council of Learned Societies’ Digital Innovation Fellowship. In 2011 he received the Frederick G. Kilgour Award from the American Library Association for his work in digital humanities, and in 2012 he was named one of the top “tech innovators” in academia by the Chronicle of Higher Education. Dan received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton, his master’s degree from Harvard, and his PhD from Yale.
Naomi House is the founder, editor and publisher at INALJ.com and a former reference, marketing and acquisitions librarian for a federal library. She and her 180+ volunteers work to add over 7,000 jobs a month and tons of great articles to the website. She believes well sourced quantity is quality and ‘squees’ each and every time someone shares that they found a job. Along with her husband, Sana, she flips houses in New Orleans. Naomi is a well known international presenter (over 60 presentations in the past 3 years) and most recently presented at OCLC EMEA in Cape Town, South Africa, at the National Press Club in Washington DC and in Dubai at the American University in the Emirates.
Guest host Leah White is the Head of Popular Materials at the Ela Area Public Library and a member of the Adult Reading Round Table Steering Committee. Leah graduated from Dominican University with her MLIS in 2008 and won the Library Journal Movers & Shakers Award in 2012. Her forthcoming book on innovation in libraries will be out this Fall. She enjoys reading comic books, Instagramming pictures of her pets, and spending too much time reading the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. You can find her on Twitter @leahlibrarian or check out her website.
Emily Lloyd lives in South Minneapolis and works as an Associate Librarian for Hennepin County Library. In addition to most things librar*, she’s interested in participatory public art and other ways to build connection and community in public spaces (sample project: 6 Words Minneapolis). You can find Emily on Twitter @poesygalore.
Jennie Rothschild is a youth services librarian turned branch manger in Arlington VA, just outside of Washington, DC. She sometimes reviews books at Biblio Fileand made 365 booklists last year at www.yareadinglist.com. When not reading, she likes doing crafty things while binge-watching House of Cards.
Angie Manfredi is the Head of Youth Services for the Los Alamos County Library System in Los Alamos, New Mexico, a position she has held for the past 6.5 years. She graduated with her MLIS from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2007. She has been an active member of ALA and served on various selection and process committees for both ALSC and YALSA. She loves presenting about library services, particularly library services for children and teens, and has done so at nationwide conferences and in several states. She can’t imagine a more exquisite, fun, amazing, and challenging job than being a youth services librarian. In her spare time, she watches far too many movies. You can read more of her writing at www.fatgirlreading.com and follow her every, incessant thought on Twitter @misskubelik (yes, a movie reference).
Laura Bang is the Digital & Special Collections Curatorial Assistant at Villanova University’s Falvey Memorial Library. Laura received her MLS from the University of Maryland in 2009. She began working at Villanova in 2010, where she is responsible for designing exhibits, overseeing the Digital Library‘s scanning operations, and assisting with Special Collections duties. Laura also has a propensity for dreaming up exciting new projects that she doesn’t have time for. You can find Laura on Twitter @laurabang and occasionally on Tumblr when she remembers to post. She sometimes wishes she were a better blogger, but she is too often distracted by shiny things. SHOW NOTES:
Circulating Ideas 