In July of 2021, I was offered the position of Manger of Collection Development and Technical Services of the Cuyahoga Falls Library.
In August of 2020, I signed a contract with McFarland Publishing to write a book tentatively titled “Now a Major Motion Picture:” A History and Celebration of Movie Novelizations to be published in 2022.
I was a panelist for a webinar with School Library Connection in July 2020, titled “Why Graphic Novels? Five Practices to Transform You Library.”
In September of 2018, I was awarded the position of Assistant Manager of the Willowick Branch of the Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library in Willowick, OH.
After a successful proposal, I gave a presentation at the Ohio Library Council Conference and Expo titled “Comics Aren’t Books, and That’s Okay” about the challenges of comics in libraries.
I earned my master’s in English from Ohio Dominican University.
I earned my master’s of library and information science from Kent State University.
My novella The Tormentors was published by a small horror publisher in California.
After much success creating programs for patrons of all ages, programming became my primary responsibility. My programs included Play Dates, Nerd Nights, Quilting Camps, Summer and Winter Reading Programs, Teen Rewards Program, Origami, balloon twisting, a zombie walk, a variety of speakers and entertainers, and much more.
I graduated from Otterbein University (then College) with a bachelor’s degree in English literature and religion.
After presenting about comics in libraries for the Northeast Ohio Regional Library System in March of 2021, I was invited to join PCI as a paid librarian presenter. Through PCI, I am able to share my love of comics with libraries all over the country.
Maximizing the Impact of Comics in Your Library: Graphic Novels, Manga, and More was given a coveted starred review by School Library Journal.
My book Maximizing the Impact of Comics in Your Library: Graphic Novels, Manga, and More, a professional guidebook for librarians, was published by Libraries Unlimited in March 2020.
After drafting a proposal, I was offered a contract by ABC-CLIO to publish a professional guidebook about comics in libraries to be published by the Libraries Unlimited imprint.
In June of 2017, I was hired by OverDrive as a Content Specialist, allowing me to engage with collection development for libraries and consortia great and small throughout the midwest, including Ohio and Illinois.
In April of 2016, I accepted the position of Program Coordinator at Medina County District Library in Medina, OH, allowing me to plan and execute system-wide programs for all six branches, including Summer Reading Games, Writers Live author events, StoryFest, Local Authors Expo, and more.
I was a panelist for a presentation at the Ohio Library Council Conference and Expo about self-published works in libraries.
I arranged for former Olympian and New York Times Bestselling Author Dominique Moceanu to join us at the London Public Library for a presentation and book signing. The library saw an attendance of over 300 people.
I was hired soon after graduating college, and I knew that librarianship was the profession for me. I was brought to the London Public Library in a position specifically created for me after impressing the director with an interview for a different position.
While I attending Otterbein University, I was hired at Blockbuster, where I was promoted from Sales Associate to Store Manager.
I can never learn enough, so throughout my professional career and beyond I will continue to engage in professional development, experimenting with emerging technologies, and learning new service standards.
My writing skills are a boon to me as a librarian and to my employer. These skills make me an effective communicator, provide me a creative outlet, make me useful in the workplace, and make me very familiar with writing software and technologies, including Microsoft Word and iOS.
Thanks to my education, work experience, and personal interests, I have a great deal of knowledge of multi-media and publishing trends. This aids me in merchandizing, marketing, readers’ advisory, and collection development.
I flourish when allowed autonomy to use outside-the-box thinking and methods to motivate staff, merchandize collections, solve problems, and more.
By doing my best to make staff feel rewarded in their work and respected enough to know the purpose of what I ask of them, I am often able to get staff to volunteer for tasks rather than have to assign them.
I’m an autodidact balloon twister and have performed at various events including at libraries.
I am driven to engage with the profession beyond working in a library by sharing any expertise and passion that I develop in any way that I can, such as through writing or presentations.
As a retail store manager and a manager at a library branch, I have apt experience supervising, motivating, and scheduling others and overall running an organization by creating an upbeat atmosphere.
Circulation, collection development, collection management, cataloging, reference, readers’ advisory, analyzing demographics — I am well-practiced with each of these library elements and engage with them on a daily basis.
Some leaders command loyalty, others inspire it. I believe myself to be the latter, as I prefer staff to choose to follow my lead because they feel appreciated and feel they are fulfilling a higher calling.
By keeping up with emerging technologies in conferences and having a zest for toying with new things, I am able to match a service need to a technological fix, I am familiar with Sirsi and Polaris, I can troubleshoot library eBook lending apps, and much more.
Library director
740-406-0318
Library director
614-746-9571
Library Building Manager
440-339-0823
Librarian and manager
216-761-9014