Charlie Bennett was born in New York, raised in Virginia, and moved to Atlanta to study at the Georgia Institute of Technology. After earning degrees in Economics and Science, Technology, and Culture (STAC), he stayed with the school and became an academic librarian at the Georgia Tech Library. He co-hosts the “one-and-only research-library rock’n’roll radio show” called “Lost in the Stacks” on WREK in Atlanta, and produces the irreverent podcast “Consilience With Pete and Charlie” about the intersection of science and the humanities.
Ameet Doshi is head of the User Experience Department and also serves as the subject librarian for Economics at Georgia Tech Library. Ameet earned his MLS from the University of Tennessee and a Masters in Public Administration from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. He began his professional career in a library residency program at the College of DuPage in Illinois. Ameet co-hosts the Research Library Rock n’ Roll radio show “Lost in the Stacks” with Charlie Bennett which broadcasts online on WREK.org and over the Atlanta airwaves each Friday at noon on WREK 91.1 FM.
Elizabeth Ferguson Keathley is the author of the recently published Digital Asset Management: Content Architectures, Project Management, and Creating Order out of Media Chaos. As a board member of the DAM Foundation, she has chaired both the Human Resources and Education committees. One of the original UPS DAM team members for seven years, Elizabeth worked with her team to win the 2010 DAMMY award for best preservation, storage, or archives solution. Previous to her work at UPS, Elizabeth worked as a Preservation Field Services officer for the Southeastern Library Network, helping libraries, archives, and other cultural institutions meet preservation and access challenges by writing and teaching. She has written, taught, and been generally loud at conferences related to the arrangement, description, preservation and access of information for twelve years. Elizabeth has a MS in Archives Management from Simmons College, Boston, and has published in such periodicals as Journal of Digital Media Management. Her ongoing exploration of digital asset management and its relationship to user needs can be followed at her homepage for Atlanta Metadata Authority, where she provides services related to the staffing, training, metadata modeling, and asset migrations for corporations acclimating to the labor intensive and detail-oriented nature of digital asset management.
Thanks to my guests Corinne Hill, Justin Hoenke, Rebecca Dunn, Megan Emery, Geoff Millener, and to Downtown Branch Manager Mary Jane Spehar for the tour of the branch.
John Chrastka is executive director of EveryLibrary, the first nationwide political action committee for libraries. A long-time library trustee, supporter and advocate, Mr. Chrastka is a member and former president of the Board of Trustees for the Berwyn (IL) Public Library (2006 – present) and is a former president of the Reaching Across Illinois Libraries System (RAILS) multi-type library system. Prior to his work on EveryLibrary, he was a partner in AssociaDirect, a Chicago-based consultancy focused on supporting associations in membership recruitment, conference, and governance activities, and was Director for Membership Development at the American Library Association (ALA). He is a current member of ALA, the Illinois Library Association (ILA), and the American Political Sciences Association (APSA). He was named a 2014 Mover & Shaker by Library Journal for his work with EveryLibrary. He tweets at @mrchrastka.
The Rapid Response Fund is a project of EveryLibrary to build the financial resources that libraries need for crisis communications. Every month, we see stories about libraries faced with an unexpected funding crisis that comes from ‘outside’. City Councils, County Governments, State Legislatures control the purse strings for many of our libraries. But when grassroots support for the library needs to kick-in, the hardest part for libraries and advocates is to reach their constituents in a fast and actionable way. Our Rapid Response Fund will be there to deliver paid advertising and outreach support for local library advocacy “calls to action” when an unexpected crisis hits. Your donation will go to work buying targeted, smart, and effective public engagement through Facebook, Google AdWords, and local media sites. The Rapid Response Fund will put money to work to get the advocacy message in front of the right people and “bring them out” for the library. Donate today. The funds we collect here are earmarked and designated for this project. Visit http://everylibrary.org/rapid-response-fund/ for more about the project.
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.