NEFLIN Expertise Database

My journey as a school media specialist has led me on several different and challenging roles within our public school library services. I have also had the privilege to experience a management position within the Jacksonville Public Library System, as a Youth Services Librarian. My career began in the late 90’s as a classroom teacher specializing in Early Childhood Education in Pasco County, Florida. Within my first 5 years of teaching I had decided to return to the University of South Florida to ern my MLIS. I spent 14 years in Pasco and worked as a classroom teacher, team leader, school media specialist, Instructional Coach and District Trainer. There was much change happening in Pasco County, which I felt had/has dissolved the integrity of the Library/Media Services and is what led me to Hillsborough County. Hillsborough County still values and respects the work that we do as school media specialists. I was only in Hillsborough County for a little over 2 years before my family made the decision to relocated to the Saint Augustine area. The local school systems had no openings for school media specialists at that time. In a leap of faith, I applied to and secured a position as a Youth Services Librarian for the Jacksonville Public Library System. This was an amazing experience for me and provided me the inspiration and growth I needed professionally to return to the school system. I did in fact return to the school system for family reasons, but we always treasure my time there. Today, I am a school media specialist in a Title 1 school in St. John’s County. Our school was in dire need of a media center and information literacy breakthrough. Over the last two years, we have had much success in many areas. I look forward to our continued growth and student success!