Greetings! I'm the director of the Seymour Public Library District in Auburn, NY. Previously, I was the director of the Dover Public Library in Dover, DE for five and a half years. Before that, I managed the Young Adults' Services Department at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, IN and was the Young Adult Coordinator at the Cumberland County Public Library & Information Center in Fayetteville, NC.
Since 2000, I've taught graduate courses for the Department of Library Science at Clarion University of PA, including young adult literature, collection development, history of children's literature, public library management, rural library services, introduction to the information profession, storytelling, the humanities, reference, and multicultural resources.
I've served on the YALSA Board of Directors, the Selected
DVDs and Videos for Young Adults Committee, the Professional Development
Committee, and the Best of the Best Books for Young Adults Preconference
Committee. I also served on the ALA Children's Book Council (CBC) Joint Committee and as an ALA Councilor-at-Large.
In 1997, I attended my first ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco after being awarded the Baker & Taylor/YALSA Conference grant. Along with John P. Bradford, in 1999 I was awarded the Frances Henne/YALSA/VOYA Research and we studied state-level commitment to young adult library services.
In August 2008, I was the keynote speaker at the Children and Teen Services Conference, administered by the Ohio Library Council. In September, I presented workshops in Altoona, Pittsburgh, and Clarion, PA for the Commonwealth Library. In September 2009, I will be presenting the same workshops in the eastern part of Pennsylvania.
My first book, Serving Older Teens, was published in 2004. My second book for Libraries Unlimited, Extreme Teens: Library Services to Nontraditional Young Adults, was released in 2005. My third book, Serving Young Teens and 'Tweens was published in 2007.
In Auburn, NY, I'm the Secretary of the Auburn Kiwanis Club, on the Board of Directors of the Auburn Beautification Commission, and I serve as an elected member of the Human Services Coalition of Cayuga County. I am an alumni of Leadership Cayuga. Click here to learn about Leadership Cayuga.