Profile

• Experienced senior executive
• Strong leader and supervisor: flexible, kind, consistent, and firm
• Skilled in personnel management with experience in a unionized environment
• Innovative strategic thinker
• Community connector and advocate of meaningful partnerships
• Proficient fundraiser
• Outstanding public speaker
• Critical thinker, relationship builder
• Customer service focused
• Nationally connected

 

Experience

DC Public Library              Washington, D.C.                              dclibrary.org   2014-Present

Director of Public Services

• Manage all aspects of public service delivery and responsible for the experience offered in our locations. This includes 25 branches, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, and over 400 staff. Also includes management of the Programs & Partnerships and the Collections departments
• Responsible for budget planning and oversight of 70% of the personnel budget and allocation and oversight of funds for the branches, programming, and outreach
• Responsible for service delivery aspects of all renovation projects, including upcoming $208 million central library modernization
• Member of executive leadership team
• Chair of the Performance Oversight Committee of the Library Board of Trustees and regularly interact with the Board

 

Omaha Public Library      Omaha, NE                          omahalibrary.org          2013-2014

Assistant Director, Community Programs and Services

• Manage public service. This includes twelve branches and over 150 branch staff. Also includes the programming, outreach and partnership team, youth services and adult services, circulation and materials movement
• Responsible for budget planning and oversight of two million dollar departmental budget, including allocation and oversight of funds for the branches, programming, and outreach funds
• Coordinated complete overhaul of staffing in the branches. This included writing new job descriptions, moving staff to achieve balance, staff development of branch managers, and outlining core competencies and standards
• Overhauled customer service standards and programming/outreach expectations by using market segmentation data to identify the communities we serve
• Managed process to outsource delivery services
• Lead a team to overhaul performance management and progressive discipline
• Member of executive leadership team
• Member of Entity Board which manages the joint-use facility

 

Omaha Public Library      Omaha, NE                          omahalibrary.org          2012-2013

Senior Manager, Branch Services                                                                                              

• Oversaw operation of half of the branches and direct supervision of 6 branch managers
• Involved with budget planning of two million dollar departmental budget, including allocation and oversight of funds for the branches
• Responsible for hiring throughout the system. Also involved with setting core competencies, revising performance evaluations, documentation and setting of expectations
• Member of Senior Management Team
• Involved with vision and future planning for the library system
• Oversaw Borrower Services for the entire library system. This includes circulation and delivery

 

Sacramento Public Library              Sacramento, CA                                 saclibrary.org                                     2011 – 2012

Outreach, Community Services & Special Projects Manager

• Managed project for $250,000 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant to create I Street: A Community Press & Writing Center, including coordinating purchase of an Espresso Book Machine, staff hiring, supply procurement, and staff training
• Member of committee that managed a $100,000 LSTA grant to form a partnership with Barnes & Noble to circulate eReaders
• Managed outreach services to the 1.4 million residents of Sacramento County
• Supervised various departments, including Literacy, Volunteers and Technology
• Coordinated outreach events for 28 locations. Created Outreach in a Bag and a master calendar to organize system-wide events

 

Sacramento Public Library              Sacramento, CA                                 saclibrary.org                                     2010 – 2011

Central Library Supervisor

• Managed daily operations for staff of 25, plus security
• Responsible for materials movement, reference, and circulation for the Central Library
• Worked extensively with staff to improve their customer service and outreach skills
• Chair of Staff Day committee, a group that reinvented a stagnant annual staff development day

 

Omaha Public Library Omaha, NE                                                   omahalibrary.org

Manager, Swanson Branch                                                                                  2009 – 2010    

• Managed system’s fourth busiest building, overseeing daily operations and facility issues
• Acted as liaison with Friends of Omaha Public Library book sale operation
• Oversaw major branch renovation project
• Participated on marketing committee, which oversaw the rebrand of Omaha Public Library, including the website
• Organized programming to adults, with an emphasis on young professionals. This included Hardbound to Heartbound, a literary speed dating event (65 people) and Board Silly, a game night for adults (75 people). These outreach efforts include database trainings with local businesses
• Participated in leadership team
• Chaired Mayhem in the Midlands Crime Fiction conference

 

Omaha Public Library Omaha, NE                                  omahalibrary.org/                         2008 – 2009

Reference Librarian, Main Branch

• Offered reference on three floors, including the information desk, the business and government documents desk, and history and genealogy desk
• Managed Biography Project, converting appropriate parts of the collection to biography section
• Organized outreach to Science Fiction/Fantasy, Anime/Manga, and business communities as well as coordinated public computer classes and managed volunteers
• Chaired Mayhem in the Midlands Crime Fiction conference (10^th anniversary)

 

Multnomah County Library              Portland, OR                                     multcolib.org/                                    2002 – 2008

Library Outreach Specialist, BOOKS 2 U

• Outstanding and successful program that encourages elementary and middle school students to read for pleasure by presenting high-energy and exciting booktalks in the classroom
• Maintained and nurtured relationships with schools, especially teachers, principals and school librarians
• Developed foreign language and summer collections and with access to a restrictive budget.
• Organized a thrice-annual volunteer appreciation event
• Member of Tapestry of Tales Family Storytelling Festival committee, a week-long event that brings storytelling to over 10,000 people every year

 

Multnomah County Library                                                                                   multcolib.org                    1998 – 2002

Library Assistant, Children’s Library (Central Library) and various branch libraries

• Worked in the largest children’s collection in the library system
• Weeded and maintained collection
• Helped students, parents, educators, and young readers find information by using print and electronic resources
• Led tours for school groups of the Children’s Library and the entire Central Library
• Took part in committee that helped rework the management structure at the Central Library
• Substituted as reference staff at 17 branches
• Spent six months working in a stationary bookmobile while a branch was being renovated. The “branch” was stocked with primarily children’s material and had no computers to use for check-out or reference

Instruction

Adjunct Professor                                                                                                   2016-Present

Catholic University of America – Department of Library and Information Science

  

Education 

District of Columbia Executive Leadership Program                                               2016

George Washington University – Center for Excellence in Public Leadership

Master of Science (American Library Association certified)                                2004     

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Bachelor of Arts in English                                                                                             1997

University of Oregon

 

Published Works/Presentations

• Presenter, Educational Book and Media Association conference: “Public Schools and Public Libraries: the logistics of partnerships” (2/7/17, St. Petersberg, FL)
• Presenter, Urban Libraries Council webinar: “Library Fees: To Forgive or Forget” (8/29/16)
• Presenter, Public Library Association Conference 2012: “Put on Your Big Girl Pants: Management Without Fear” (3/11, Philadelphia, PA)
• Presenter, California Library Association Conference 2011: “Don’t Waste it—Have an Awesome Staff Day” (11/13/11)
• Presenter, California Library Association Conference 2011: “eBooks, eServices and eBranches” (11/13/11)
• Presenter, Public Library Association webinar: “Check out eReaders! Sacramento Public Library Did it and You Can Too!” (9/21/11)
• Inspired, Not Tired: How We Reinvented Staff Day, Public Libraries Magazine (May/June, 2009)
• Presenter, Public Library Association Conference 2010: “If You Didn’t Work Here, Would You Come?”
• Presenter, Mountain Plains Library Association Conference 2009: “I Didn’t Go to Library School to … OR Security in Everyone’s Job”
• Presenter, Nebraska Library Association Conference 2009: “Young Professionals: The Group You Don’t Realize You’re Missing”
• “A Healthy Balance”, Library Journal (September 1, 2009)
• Documentary DVD reviewer for Library Journal

Honors

• 2013 Nebraska Library Leadership Institute mentor
• 2012 ALA Emerging Leaders program mentor
• 2010 Library Journal Movers & Shakers (http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2010/03/people/movers-shakers-2010/amy-mather-manya-shorr-movers-shakers-2010-marketers/)
• 2009 ALA Emerging Leader
• 2009 Nebraska Library Leadership Institute participant

Affiliations & Committee Memberships

• 2014-2017 Public Library Association Board member (elected)
• 2017-2019 PLA Task Force on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
• ALA Emerging Leaders Subcommittee
• American Library Association (ALA)
• Public Library Association (PLA)
• DC Library Association