Autobiography

I was born and raised in Livingston, New Jersey.  My Mom was from Brooklyn, New York, while Dad was from Dancyville, Tennessee.  Our vacations where spent visiting Moore relatives in West Tennessee, which partly explains why I chose to go South for my education and to remain in Tennessee after graduate school.

I  attended the University of South Carolina in Columbia where I majored in History.  Afterward, I spent two years working as an executive secretary at M.  Polaner and Son, a manufacturer of jams and preserves in Roseland, New Jersey.  During that time, I gained valuable experience by running their consumer complaint department and learned that I did not want to spend the rest of my working life as a secretary.  Consequently, I went to Knoxville to study for a master's degree in Library Science.  While at U.T., I worked in the circulation and reference departments of their Undergraduate Library and tutored English for the Athletic Department. 

I moved to Rogersville in 1981 to be the Director/County Coordinator of the H. B. Stamps Memorial Library-Hawkins County Library System, a position which I held for 12 years.  Being the director of a small library afforded me the opportunity to do many things from reference and interlibrary loan to janitorial and yard work (fortunately I didn't have to do the latter too often).   I got the most satisfaction from working with our local genealogical society to improve the scope and services of our genealogical collection, working with parents from Clinch School to provide 1st through 4th graders with a monthly collection of library books when the school didn't have a school librarian, and writing the two grants which the library received to develop a high-interest, low-level book collection for adult readers and to add PBS videos to the county's four libraries.  While at H. B. Stamps, I developed a passion for children's books which is still strong today.

After taking off for 4 years to raise my two boys, I worked for three years at the Rogersville City School, a K-8 school .  It was wonderful to have the same schedule as the boys, and to work with the children in the school library.  It is so important that children develop a love for reading and it was very gratifying when I saw children connect to books.

I have worked as a Reference Librarian at ETSU since 2000.  Working in an academic environment is very different from working in a public or school library, but I enjoy the challenge of being here.  Which type of library do I prefer?  I really can't say because every time I walk into a library, it's like coming home.

To find out more about my favorite children's books, click here.