Speakers
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
[print handout here]
NJ State Librarian; Nationally Recognized as Librarian of the Year 2008
Recognized as an innovator, advocate and pioneer in the library field, Blake was nominated for the honor because of her leadership in developing new programs that build collaborations among various communities to extend and expand library services in New Jersey and beyond.
Norma E. Blake has been the New Jersey State Librarian for six years. Previously, Norma has had over 25 years experience in New Jersey libraries including the directorship of both the Burlington County and Gloucester County Library Systems. Norma was selected as the New Jersey Library Association's Librarian of the Year, elected President of the state library association, chosen as a member of Leadership NJ Class of 2000 and recipient of the Distinguished Service Award 2005, by NJLA-CUS-ARCL NJ. At present, Norma serves on the boards of NJ Reads, New Jersey Network Citizens Advisory Board, the Southern New Jersey Development Council and CODE, the Committee of Distance Education, State Council of Adult Literacy Education Services. Her Professional organizations/affiliations include the New Jersey Library Association, American Library Association, Public Library Association, liaison to NCLIS for Chief Officers of State Library Agencies, secretary of Chief Officers of State Library Agencies in the Northeast, and secretary of ASCLA, The Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies.
The State Librarian may be contacted at: (609) 278-2640, Ext. 101 or nblake@njstatelib.org
LUNCHEON SPEAKERS
AMANDA DICKSON, KSL RADIO HOST
Amanda Dickson co-hosts Utah's #1 rated morning show, "Utah's Morning News with Grant and Amanda," on KSL Newsradio. Amanda also hosts the award winning program "A Woman's View," heard Sunday mornings on KSL. She is a voracious reader and reviews a bestseller every Tuesday on "The Book Beat."
Amanda is a much sought-after speaker, inspiring and motivating groups and emceeing events for schools and non-profit organizations. She published her first book in the fall of 2007, Wake Up to a Happier Life.
KATHERINE COLES, UTAH'S POET LAUREATE
In 2006, Katharine Coles was named to a five-year term as Utah's Poet Laureate. Her poems have been included in numerous public arts projects, including Salt Lake City's Passages Park, for which she served on the design team. Her ongoing collaboration with visual artist Maureen O'Hara Ure has resulted in two
major installations and an artist's book, SWOON.
She is on the faculty of the English Department at the University of Utah, where she teaches creative writing and literature and, with mathematician and biologist Fred Adler co-directs the Utah Symposium in Science and Literature which she originated in 2001. In spring 2008 she published BURNT LETTERS, a nonfiction book about her grandfather, a petroleum geologist and explorer from 1926 until the early sixties, and her adventurous grandmother. This project has taken her up the Amazon and to Havana, Indonesia, and Singapore.
PROGRAM SPEAKERS
JOYCE SARICKS, READERS ADVISOR
A noted readers’ advisor, Joyce Saricks is the author of Readers'' Advisory Service in the Public Library, Readers'' Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction, and Booklist’s “At Leisure” RA column. Saricks is also Readalikes editor and contributor for NoveList and adjunct professor at Dominican University‘s Graduate School of Library and Information Science. She was the 1989 recipient of PLA''s Allie Beth Martin Award.
MARY MINOW, ATTORNEY, CONSULTANT AND FORMER LIBRARIAN
Mary Minow says, "I was a librarian for ten years, and then I went to law school. I know that sounds a little odd. More often, it is discontented lawyers who return to library school to find greener pastures. Odder still, and despite the efforts of so many people I meet who cannot understand my career path, I never intended to be a law librarian. I care about libraries, and attended law school with librarian-eyes. While there, I studied library law, that is the combined study of First Amendment, Copyright, Local Government Law, Disability Law, Negotiations etc. Now what I care about is sharing the most practical parts of the law that I learned, the good, the bad and the ugly, with my former colleagues, the librarians of the world."
Minow is an attorney, consultant, and a former librarian and library trustee. She has taught library law at the San Jose State School of Library Science. She was President on the board of CALTAC in 2002, the California Association of Library Trustees and Commissioners, and now serves as its Policy Analyst.
Mary received her B.A. from Brown University, her A.M.L.S. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and her J.D. from Stanford University. She is the coauthor with Tomas Lipinski of The Library's Legal Answer Book (ALA Editions: 2003). Minow is the first recipient of the California Library Association's Zoia Horn Intellectual Freedom Award, given in 2004. Minow's blog is at blog.librarylaw.com.
KATHLEEN SMITH, PROJECTS LIBRARIAN, FRESNO COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY, LIBRARIAN
We can’t stop doing that! But we’ve always done it that way! That’s not going to work! All are common laments when sacred cows of library routine or service are threatened. Yet, as library budgets shrink despite an increasing demand for services, there’s no better time to round up some of these sacred cows and give them a good hard look. This workshop will inspire participants to critically examine the what, why and how of your organization’s day-to-day practices from technical services to programming. Learn techniques to identify routines that cost time without adding value. Discover ways to lessen the emotional response to change of long-held and often well-loved practices. See how changes made because of tough times can actually contribute to the overall health and long-term success of your library.
CELIA ROSS, BUSINESS REFERENCE 101
Celia Ross has gained over a decade of practical business reference experience in a variety of settings, including a venture capital firm, a large public library, a global consulting firm and academic libraries. In addition to presenting lectures and workshops on the topic, she teaches Business Reference 101, an online professional development course for the American Library Association. She is active in ALA and was recently elected chair of RUSA's Business Reference And Services Section (BRASS) division. She is also a member of the Association of Independent Information Professionals. She is working on a book, "Making Sense of Business Reference," which is forthcoming from ALA Editions. After the birth of her daughter in early 2008, Ross started Stratham Research, an independent information search firm. When she's not helping people make sense of business reference, she likes to run (slowly), watch movies and collect chia pets, but never all at the same time.
METTE IVIE HARRISON
Mette Ivie Harrison is the author of MIRA, MIRROR (2004, Viking), THE PRINCESS AND THE HOUND (2007, HarperEos),
and the forthcoming THE
PRINCESS AND THE BEAR (2009, HarperEos). She is a competitive
triathlete and survived (barely!) a PhD program in Germanic Languages
and Literatures at Princeton University (1995). She has five children
and lives in Layton, Utah. For fun, she tries out new vegan recipes,
crochets, draws, and plays the piano badly. She loves Amish quilts,
black and white illustration, graphic novels, chocolate, and Jane Austen
everything. Her website is www.metteivieharrison.com. She is also
available for novel manuscript critiques.
SARA ZARR
Sara Zarr is the author of two critically-acclaimed novels for young adults: Sweethearts, set here in Salt Lake City, and Story of a Girl (a National Book Award finalist). She's also been published in the quarterly journal IMAGE, and has had short pieces in several anthologies. Her third novel, Once Was Lost, will be published this fall by Little, Brown. She lives in Salt Lake, and on the web at sarazarr.com
GRACE MARY GOUVEIA
Dr. Grace Mary Gouveia has been a key influence in making her library a critical community resource by collecting, managing, and maintaining local history and genealogical records. She earned her doctorate from Purdue University in American History, specializing in Women’s History and Native American History. As a youth, she learned about oral genealogy, as older members of her extended family always discussed (in detail) who was related to whom. In her studies, she encountered it again, as much of Native American History is grounded in relations. After teaching for many years, she changed careers slightly by moving into the field of library science. She is currently the head of the Genealogy and Local History Department in at the Frankfort Community Public Library, in Frankfort, Indiana, where she combines the two related fields.
A.E. Cannon
Ann Edwards Cannon (www.aeccannon.com) is an award-winning writer of fiction for children and young adults. She is also a newspaper columnist, creative writing teacher, and mother of five sons. Her first young adult novel, Cal Cameron by Day, Spider-man by Night, won the Delacorte Press Prize for an outstanding first YA novel. Since then, she has published a number of books, some of which have been named to the ALA’s Best Books lists, while her weekly column in the Deseret Morning News has found a wide online readership. A Loser’s Guide to Life and Love, a new novel for young adult readers, was published last spring.
Ann lives in Salt Lake City with her husband, Ken, their family and (too) many pets.