Member Profile
B. Maggie Foster
Title: Technology and Job Information Librarian
Organization: Mundy Branch Library, part of Onondaga County Public Library System
Interests / hobbies: Reading, arts and crafts, walking in the city
Educational Background:
MLS from Syracuse University in 2013, and student assistant positions in the Special Collections Research Center, at Bird Library, and The Family Resource Center, at Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital. The experience in archival work and medical librarianship is what ultimately led to my desire to work in the public library. The information needs of people in the community are vast, and never dull. I wanted to use skills learned in all areas of librarianship to help those who lived in the city I had grown to love.
Projects / Groups / Committees involved with at NYLA:
My interests have led me to become an active member of the NYLA Sustainability Initiative’s Making the Case work group. Considered the PR department of the committee, we produce articles for the Sustainability Spotlight, and provide examples of all areas of librarianship contributing to sustainable initiatives within their systems (i.e. LEED certification at public libraries, green environments in academic libraries).
Projects / groups/ Committees involved with locally:
Resource Sharing Advisory Committee, Summer Reading taskforce, volunteer librarian at Northside Learning Center, Reader’s Advisory Committee, PTO.
On a more local level, I’m part of the OCPL’s Readers’ Services [Service Response] Team. Comprised of librarians from the city branches, we provide important programming focused on readers’ advisory for the community. Recently, I had the pleasure of proposing a program series that will increase our NoveList usage. I would not have been so well prepared to write the proposal, if not for a workshop I attended at the 2014 NYLA Conference. I learned excellent information at that conference!
Why are you still a member? What has being a member done for you? Please share some of your positive experiences as a NYLA member.
The people I meet, the relationships I build, and the information I learn and share, are all vital to my success. Becoming a librarian fulfilled a longtime dream of mine, and I couldn’t do it without my peers. NYLA has helped me gain confidence in my ability to make a difference in modern librarianship.