BIOGRAPHY

I am a library consultant, workplace coach, and author. My husband and I live on Sauvie's Island, near Portland, Oregon. I have been a library practitioner and manager for more than 30 years in libraries of all types in Michigan, Colorado, California, and Oregon. Since 1974, I have combined consulting with practical experience.

I began my career in Michigan as Public Services Coordinator and became the Director of the Learning Resources Center at St. Clair County Community College in 1976. From Michigan, my interest in interlibrary cooperation took me to Colorado, where I was the Director of Statewide Library Development and Adult Services at the Colorado State Library. My responsibilities spanned several areas: the state's multi-type library regions, state public library equalization funding, correctional and institutional libraries, the government documents depository program, statewide GED, Adult Basic Education, and the Colorado Refugee English as a second language programs.

Family ties and the Bay Area Library and Information System (BALIS) drew me back to my native California in 1982. I managed the cooperative of nine independent public libraries and coordinated collaborative activities among 97 academic and special libraries in San Francisco, Contra Costa, and Alameda counties. BALIS provided regional reference service for the public and for librarians. It developed products and training to equip Bay Area library staff to better serve the under-served: new Americans, youth, new readers, and Spanish speakers. In 1993, I became the Administrator of Branch Libraries at the Oakland Public Library. There, I worked with director Martin Gomez to establish the African American Museum and Library at Oakland and to build and develop several branches, among them the Asian Library and the Latin American Library.

In 2002-03, I served as Interim Director of Libraries for Multnomah County, Portland, Oregon, while a new director search was underway. Before assuming that position, I was the deputy director from 1997 to 2002. My primary work was to develop leaders at every level; build the performance capacity of managers and staff; ready staff for service in new and renovated facilities and in a digital environment; reshape staff and management systems and public services for effective customer service. I was responsible for developing library policies and practices pertaining to public access computers, filtering, confidentiality and privacy of patron records, the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), and the USA Patriot Act. As the liaison between the Library Foundation and library staff, I developed structure and protocols to enable effective working relationships between library staff and the Library Foundation.

My graduate and undergraduate degrees are from the University of Michigan (MLS, 1972, BA English Language and Literature, Secondary education, 1971) I am a career-long student and practitioner in organizational and staff development. I am the author of Coaching in the Library: A Management Strategy for Achieving Excellence, published by the American Library Association in 2001. I am an active in the library profession and member in good standing of the Oregon Library Association and the American Library Association and its public library and library management divisions. I have been a sponsor for two fellows who are participating in the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) Executive Leadership Institute.