Superstar Librarians

One outstanding librarian can change and improve countless lives. She can provide fascinating friends (the characters in books) to anyone in need of a friend. She can help us learn anything we want or need to know, from art to zoology—as our knowledge expands, so does our thinking, our imagination, our potential, our hopes and dreams. She can offer free trips to anywhere in the world (through books). She can make reticent readers into eager readers and lifelong learners with bright futures—and since readers tend to raise more readers, this is a gift that’s passed down from generation to generation.

An outstanding librarian offers her library as a place of refuge, quiet comfort, and escape—figuratively and literally, today and tomorrow—I wonder how many people began their escape from social, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, or financial poverty at  their nearest library.

Katrina Williams

is just such a librarian.

KatrinaI first heard from Katrina, a librarian in New York, after she’d stayed up late one night reading Lula Bell on Geekdom, Freakdom & the Challenges of Bad Hair. She then generously took the time to email and tell me how much she loved the book, and that she was about to read my debut novel as well. When she finished that one, she emailed again, to tell me she’d loved it, too.

Katrina’s emails arrived with perfect timing. They lifted me when I was feeling down, scared and unsure about my future as a writer, at a time when I’d begun to wonder if maybe my work only had relevance in the South. I told her so. Katrina promptly set about writing and publishing reviews of my work in various places.

She is a go-the-extra-mile girl! For me, and for her students. She runs the biggest after-school book club I have seen so far, with whom I had the pleasure of Skyping. Every single one of her students was well informed, well prepared, well read, thoughtful and intelligent—and I knew right away that they had one outstanding librarian.

So, on behalf of her students, and myself, I say: Thank you, Katrina!

If you know an outstanding librarian like Katrina, email me at [email protected] and your librarian could be featured here!

Jennifer Owen

is just such a librarian. From Dr. Seuss Day parades to puppet shows, she makes reading fun and exciting! Additionally, she pays close attention to her students, cares about each and every one, and actively looks for ways to help, in her own quiet way. When she noticed that one of her students was being… Continue Reading

Alaine Carpenter

is just such a librarian. She has blessed me beyond measure, as a reader, a writer, and a friend. She has recommended books and given me books. She has tirelessly recommended my books to others. When I thought my writing career might really be over and didn’t know what in the world to do, I went to… Continue Reading