Diane lives at Pine Mountain Club in Frazier Park, California with her husband, Tom. An avid fitness and health advocate, she enjoys hiking on the trails around their home and scaring bears out of her path! She is also a golf enthusiast, but declines to state her handicap.

Shelley Ekeroth, County of Los Angeles Public Library Team Leader
http://www.colapl.org
Shelley Ekeroth has been with the County of Los Angeles Public Library since 1990. She started off as a reference librarian, later becoming manager of one of the County's community libraries. Her interest in collection development led to a position as the Fiction Materials Evaluator, which she held for six years before her recent appointment as Collection Development Coordinator.

Becky Ellis, Speaker
http://library.ci.cerritos.ca.us/
As part of the Cerritos Library Expansion Planning Team, Becky was responsible for developing an innovative staff training program. She worked closely with the architect and interior designer on the design of the public service and was also responsible for overseeing Collection Development, programming and many other public services activities.

In mid-January 2003, Becky retired and moved to Fort Bragg in northern California where she immediately became involved in organizing the research library at the Mendocino Botanical Garden. She plans to continue to be involved in public library activities and contribute what she can to helping others to imagine and create the library of the future.

Victoria Fong, Belvedere-Tiburon Library Team Leader
http://www.bel-tib-lib.org/
Victoria is a member of the Belvedere-Tiburon Library Agency Board of Trustees and a member of the statewide Library of California Board. She is also a director of the Peninsula Library Foundation (Belvedere-Tiburon), a member of the Council of Friends of the Bancroft Library at University of California, Berkeley, Board Community Advisors of the Buck Center for Research in Aging, and the Marin Charitable Association.

Victoria has been a special librarian with The Foundation Center, a national public information, non-profit special library in San Francisco, a law librarian for the Clark County Law Library in Las Vegas, Nevada and the San Francisco law firm of McCutchen, Doyle, Brown, and Enersen, and a public librarian for The Free Library of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her volunteer work with school libraries includes Marin Country Day School and the Branson School. She received a bachelor’s degree in history, and a Master in Library Science degree from the University of Michigan.

Shari Fournier-O'Leary, Conference Graphic Artist

Shari is a graphic designer/art director specializing in both print and web design. She has worked with library organizations including the Cerritos Library, Infopeople, lii.org and the Belvedere-Tiburon Library as well as major corporations such as Disney, Amgen and Bank of America. Shari also taught graphic design at Cal State Fullerton. She created the graphics for the Imagine It, Explore It, Create It! Conference.

Livier Franco, Camarena Memorial Library Team Member
http://www.calexico.k12.ca.us/cml/
During her high school and college years, Livier worked at the Camarena Library under many different school programs, until she earned her A.A. in Early Childhood Education. For the next 17 years she worked as a preschool teacher. Last year she found a wonderful job working as a Children's Services Coordinator at the Camarena Memorial Library.

Livier loves her job because she gets to work with all kinds of children, conducting everyday activities during the day as well as after school activities. She finds her job exciting because she gets to do a lot of research and planning for the different activities and get to be with the people she loves the most: children. She is married, has three sons and a wonderful husband.

Chris Gallas, Santa Maria Public Library Team Member
http://www.ci.santa-maria.ca.us/210.html
Chris was recruited for the Santa Maria Library Board of Trustees by a hibiscus. She was photographing its blooms at City Hall in 1994 when she spied a notice advertising a board opening. She has served ever since as the local library expanded its collections and services to a diverse population of customers. She inherited her love of reading and libraries from her grandfather, author of 23 books. In college, she spent many hours in the Bancroft Library at Berkeley, then earned an MA Ed. in Counseling and Guidance from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Chris and husband, Joe, have two grown children and one grandchild. When their daughter was diagnosed with autism 33 years ago, Chris again found the library a source of much needed information. She also serves the Santa Maria Community through Altrusa, Rotary, American Association of University Women, and local leadership programs. Her other interests are painting, photography, gardening, travel, writing and, of course, reading.

Gina Garbolino, Roseville Public Library Team Member
http://www.roseville.ca.us/
A native of the Netherlands and 34-year resident of Roseville, Gina was appointed to the Roseville City Council on March 14, 2001. She was elected Mayor Pro Tem on November 5, 2002 and will be sworn in as the Mayor of Roseville in late 2004.

Gina attended California State University at San Francisco and Sierra College. She currently holds the position of Vice President of Business Development for the Roseville Bank of Commerce. She has been involved with the Roseville Chamber as a member for over 18 years, including service as a Board Member and 1997 Chamber President. She was the recipient of the prestigious Athena Award in 1993 and serves as the Chair of Leadership Roseville. Her community involvement includes Board Member for the Child Abuse Prevention Council of Placer County for 6 years; 3 time President of Advocacy, Resources and Choices; Past Board Member for Roseville Art Center; and Advisory Board member for the Performing Arts of Roseville.

Gina has been married for 36 years to Judge James Garbolino with two married daughters and four grandchildren.

Joan Garrett, Belvedere-Tiburon Library Team Member
http://www.bel-tib-lib.org/
Joan has been the head of the Reference Department at the Belvedere-Tiburon Library since the new Library opened in 1997. Prior to that time she worked as a Technical Information Specialist at the Lawrence Livermore National Labs, and in interlibrary loans at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. She received her MLIS from the University of Rhode Island, and is a transplanted New Englander, moving from Massachusetts to California in 1994.

Working in a wonderful public library has given her the opportunity to become a generalist: helping to build the collection, developing the web page, working with community volunteers, doing virtual reference, and helping to plan a possible addition to the library.

Joan spends her leisure time reading, ballroom and folk dancing, and hiking the beautiful trails of Marin County.

Bill Gegg, Antioch Library Team Member
http://www.ci.antioch.ca.us/
Bill is Assistant to the City Manager for the City of Antioch, California and has worked for the City for almost 15 years in Building, Planning, Information Systems and Administration. He is part of the City of Antioch Library Team that submitted an application for 2nd Round funding from the 2000 Library Bond Act. "I have worked on a lot of projects over the past 10 years but the library grant application has been the most rewarding. One of those incredible efforts when everyone on the project team was focused on one goal, a gorgeous, new library serving Antioch."

Bill is a former Golden Bear, having received his undergraduate degree from U.C. Berkeley in Biology. He also has a teaching credential and a Masters in Business Administration. He has been married for 27 years, has two daughters 11 and 13 years old, and coaches both of them on the same fast pitch softball team.

Bill enjoys 60's automobiles, sports, photography, reading, wood working, metal working and exploring with his family. He is still trying to take the perfect picture and complete the perfect weld.

Jim Gilmore, Speaker
http://www.customization.com/
Jim Gilmore is co-founder with partner Joe Pine of Strategic Horizons LLP, a thinking studio dedicated to helping businesses conceive and design new ways of adding value to their economic offerings. Jim works with management teams to grasp the nature of the emerging Experience Economy and envision their role in it - whether it be staging experiences, guiding transformations, or mass customizing any economic offering.

He is a frequent speaker at professional society and trade association conferences, as well as executive education programs of individual companies and has written numerous articles on business strategy and innovation for such publications as the Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Strategy & Leadership, Context, and The Journal of Cost Management, among others.

Cheryl Gould, Conference Planning Team Member
http://infopeople.org/
Cheryl is the Infopeople Training Director. Since 1996, she has delivered workshops on a wide range of topics from basic computer and searching skills through, Training the Trainer, Word, Powerpoint, Libris Design and Mastering Tough Public Service Situations. Through Infopeople, Cheryl has worked with over 80 different instructors to create workshops on more than 120 different topics of interest to California libraries.

Cheryl Grantano, South San Francisco Public Library Team Member
http://www.ssflibrary.org/
Cheryl is the Assistant Library Director for South San Francisco Public Library. She has worked in Children's, Branch, Circulation and Reference Services. She earned her MLS at San Jose State Library. In Summer, 2000 she was a member of the pioneer class of the Stanford-California State Library Institute on 21st Century Librarianship. Currently, Cheryl is working on an LSTA project - Public Library Services for People with Disabilities; she is a member of the design team for South San Francisco's new website. She is also a member of the Golden Gateway Library Network Staff Development and Peninsula Library System Marketing Committees.

Joyce Gunn, San Ramon Library Team Leader
http://www.ccclib.org/
Joyce is Branch Manager at San Ramon, one of 23 Contra Costa County Library branches. Since 1991, she has developed a community-oriented library, jointly funded by the county and city and open seven days a week. Chosen as the only California site for two Smithsonian jazz exhibits, the library also hosted a Poets in Person series, and created a jazz collection that loans items nationally as well as locally.

Joyce has worked in libraries since her days as a high school shelver. Her M.L.S. (1968) is from Rutgers, when library degrees still had "library" in them, students wrote catalog cards by hand, and high-tech was new filmstrip projectors that advanced the film automatically. During the last 35 years, she has been children's librarian or branch manager around the U.S. and is now planning two new library buildings.

"If I had a chance to live my life over again," says Joyce, "I would choose to be a librarian. It's the most fascinating, service-oriented, fun-filled job you can have where you learn something new every day."

Brian Gyoerkoe, Sacramento Public Library Team Member
http://www.saclibrary.org/
Brian has been the Branch Manager of the North Highlands-Antelope Library, one of Sacramento Public Library's busiest community sized branches, for the past two years. Prior to this position, he was the Adult Services Librarian at the Ilsley Public Library in Middlebury, Vermont. He has an MLS from Syracuse University, and a Masters in Political Science with a focus on Public Policy from SUNY Buffalo. Prior to his work in libraries (and sometimes during) Brian worked providing computer support and network administration services, and before that he spent four years doing research and investigation as a legal assistant on the Love Canal insurance litigation.

Gail Haar, Marin County Free Library Team Leader
http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/LB/main/index.cfm
The Deputy Director of County Library Services at Marin County Free Library, Gail has worked in libraries since receiving her MLS in 1971. She worked for a number of years at the Prosser Library in Bloomfield, Ct. serving as young adult librarian and adult services librarian and then as Assistant Director. From there she moved to be Director of the Marlborough Library in Marlborough, Ct. where she spearheaded the fundraising and construction efforts for a new library building and installed the library's first automation system. A move to northern California in 1988 brought her to Marin County Free Library where she began as an extra-hire reference substitute and worked as a reference librarian and then branch manager at several facilities. Gail has a B.A. from Douglass College at Rutgers University in New Jersey and an M.B.A. from the University of Phoenix.

Richard Hall, California State Library Team Member
http://www.olc.library.ca.gov/
Richard is the Library Bond Act Manager for the California State Library's Office of Library Construction where he is currently managing $350 million of state bond funds for public library construction. He joined the California State Library in January of 1990 as the Library Bond Act Manager for the original 1988 Library Bond Act. Before then, he was the Library Construction Coordinator for the Georgia State Library for 12 years where he successfully managed an annual state grants-in-aid program for constructing public library facilities.

Richard is the author of two books: Financing Public Library Buildings and Winning Library Referenda Campaigns and over 20 professional journal articles in the area of library facility planning and library ballot measures. He is also the developer of Libris Design, a library facility planning database, that can be used by public libraries to assist with the development of their library building programs and project cost estimates.

Anthony Halstead, Fresno County Public Library Team Member
http://www.fresnolibrary.org/
Anthony Halstead has been working in public libraries for five years. After receiving his MLS from the University of North Texas he worked at the Lewisville Public Library for three years, moving to California to take a position with the Fresno County Library in 2000. He has spent the last four years working to develop library services to non-English speaking patrons. The Fresno County Library actively collects seventeen languages and has over thirty locations. He has attended the international book festival in Guadalajara for three years and worked to coordinate two similar events in Fresno. He provides and promotes materials and programming in multiple languages in Fresno and serves as a representative for various community groups to library administrators. He is also an obsessive road cyclist and is owned by three cats.

Teri Hamilton, Downey City Library Team Member
http://www.downeygis.org/downeyca/community_serv_design.asp
Teri is currently the Recreation Supervisor for the City of Downey.

Shannon Hammock, Riverside Public Library Team Member
http://www.cybraryconnect.org/
Shannon is currently the Special Projects Librarian at the Riverside Public Library. In that position, he oversees the library's literacy program and two Cybraries. Before that, he was the Government Documents Librarian for a year, and he initially joined the Riverside Public Library as the Projects Manager for the Riverside Local History Resource Center. He has a M.A. in History from the University of California, Riverside, and is currently working on his MLIS from San Jose State University. His other activities include making sure he spends as much time as possible with his wife, Yadira, and 10 month old daughter, Anais.

Bill Hidell, AIA, Watsonville Public Library Team Leader
http://www.hidell.com/
Bill has dedicated over 20 years to the development and creation of libraries of excellence. A dynamic leader, Bill has served the library community as architect and consultant for over two decades. Under his leadership, Hidell and Associates Architects has grown as library specialists, understanding the unique role of the community library. His continued commitment to professional development and dedication to maintaining current knowledge and expertise in the development and evolution of libraries is exemplified through his participation in the American Library Association as a member of the Architecture for Public Libraries Committee, Functional Space Requirements Committee, and Library Interiors, Furnishings & Equipment Committee. Additionally, he serves as President of the Little Elm Community Library Board of Trustees.

Susan Hildreth, Conference Advisory Committee Member
http://sfpl.org/
Susan Hildreth is the City Librarian of the San Francisco Public Library. She has served in a variety of other library leadership roles throughout the State, including Deputy Director of the Sacramento Public Library, County Librarian for the Auburn-Placer County Library, and Director of the Benicia Public Library. Prior to her service for the City of San Francisco, she was a planning consultant for the California State Library, where she managed a variety of projects and grants.

Currently the Vice-President/President-elect and previously Treasurer (1995-2000) of the California Library Association, Susan is also active in the American Library Association. She graduated cum laude from Syracuse University, and holds a Masters in Business Administration from Rutgers University as well as a Masters in Library Science from the State University of New York, Albany.

Holly Hinman, Conference Catalyst
http://infopeople.org/
Holly is the Director of the Infopeople Project, which provides continuing education and practical, library-specific job training to library staff throughout California. Infopeople offers over 300 training events covering more than 40 different topics every year. Training includes hands-on workshops, seminars, multi-day institutes, asynchronous web-based classes, and webcasts. Infopeople also provides training assistance to other California LSTA projects, such as the Imagine It! conference. Before starting the Infopeople Project in 1994, Holly worked in a variety of public, academic, and special libraries and library consortia.

Susan Holmer, Menlo Park Public Library Team Leader
http://www.menloparklibrary.org/
Holder of an MLS from San Jose State University and Director of Library Services for the City of Menlo Park since September 2002, Susan has served more than twenty-five years in California libraries predominately with Peninsula Library System, Silicon Valley Library System, and Bay Area Library and Information System. Susan first visited the Cerritos Library in Autumn of 2002 and her response was "Wow!" She says that the experience has changed her thinking about libraries and can't wait for the Conference in May.

Nora Jacob, Orange Public Library Team Leader
http://www.cityoforange.org/Library/
Nora has been with the City of Orange for two and a half years, beginning as City Librarian and then becoming Library Services Director when the Library became its own department in July of 2002. She also serves as executive director of the City of Orange Public Library Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization formed to raise money to enhance Orange's public library construction and technology plans.

Before coming to Orange, Nora served as Public Services Division Manager at the Corona Public Library where she expanded the literacy and outreach program, began a Passport Acceptance Service, and established the City's website. Her honors and professional activities include the award of "Manager of the Year" by the Orange chapter, National Management Association, in 2002. She also currently serves as an at-large member of the California Library Association Assembly.

John Jewell, California State Library Team Member
http://www.library.ca.gov/
John is currently Chief of State Library Services at the California State Library. He oversees those parts of the State Library dealing with its diverse collections and services to state government and the public: the Braille Talking Book Library, California History Room, Government Publications Section, State Information and Reference Center, Sutro Library and Witkin State Law Library.

From 1992 to 2000, John was Assistant Director for Information Services in the California Research Bureau which does non-partisan public policy research for the Governor's Office and the Legislature. His roots in reference—helping people find the information they need—were key to his work on several state web projects, including leading the content team for the state portal, My California, that received Best of web in 2001 for state web pages (from the Center for Digital Government and Government Technology magazine).

Martha Johner, Sutter County Library Team Member
http://www.co.sutter.ca.us/index.aspx?doc=/depts/library/library.xml
Martha is currently a Supervising Library Technician at the Sutter County Library.

Bonnie Kehoe, Downey City Library Team Member
http://www.downeygis.org/downeyca/community_serv_design.asp
Bonnie is the new Director of Community Services for the City of Downey. Her career includes 25 years with the City of Downey in the Recreation Division until the recent promotion. In addition she has worked for the City of Novato and the City of Pacifica, both in Parks and Recreation. The Downey Community Services Department has six divisions, Library, Golf, Recreation, Social Services, Theatre and the newest division, the Space Science Learning Center. This energetic staff is working together to meet the changing times, we fondly call ourselves the W.I.T. (Whatever It Takes) Team! Bonnie has a BS and MA Degree, both from San Francisco State University. She is married and with husband Ed, they spend their leisure time golfing and snow skiing.

Ed Kieczykowski, San Bernardino County Library Team Leader
http://www.sbcounty.gov/library/
Ed has been the County Librarian for the San Bernardino County Library for the past nine years. In his previous positions, which included stops along the way in Northern California, New York and Ohio, he has been involved with 15 different building and remodeling projects. Many of these projects had public expectations that exceeded fiscal reality. He started as a library page 36 years ago and has worked in a variety of library positions. He received his BS in Anthropology and Archaeology from the State University of New York @ Buffalo and his Masters Degree in Library Science from Florida State University.

Merrie Krisl, Sonoma County Library Team Member
http://www.sonoma.lib.ca.us/
Merrie is a member of the Santa Rosa Library Advisory Board for the Sonoma County Public Libraries. She has been a community volunteer for seventeen years working in the public schools as an art docent, in school libraries and lobbying the local school board for library improvements. For the past four years, she has worked as a volunteer library coordinator at the county Juvenile Justice Center. She imagines a better future for all children.

Kevin Krumdieck, National City Public Library Team Member
http://www.carrierjohnson.com/
Kevin has been a project manager for Carrier Johnson for the past 15 years, working on a large variety of civic, corporate, and mixed use projects. Kevin has been responsible for the design of over 2,300,000 s.f. of library space over the last 12 years.

Academic library projects include: Geisel Library Expansion and Renovation @ UCSD, Marriott Library Expansion @ Univ. of Utah, Library Expansion Study @ CSU Dominquez Hills, Library Renovation Study @ CSU Hayward, and the Library Renovation Study @ CSU Sacramento.

Civic library projects include: Mira Mesa Public Library, Rancho San Diego Public Library, Rancho Del Rey Public Library, and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library @ SJSU/City of San Jose. He is currently leading the design team for the new National City Public Library."

Carrie Kurata, Facilities Team Member
http://library.ci.cerritos.ca.us/
In May 2001, Carrie joined the Cerritos Library staff. Carrie's day-to-day responsibilities revolve around the Library's Conference Center. She helped put together policies and procedures for this expanded division within the library. Carrie also works closely with the Facility staff, the Library staff, City staff, and the public to ensure the success of events held in the Conference Center. Carrie also assists the Library's Administration office with their day-to-day operation.

Before coming to the library, Carrie was the Facility/Volunteer Specialist at the Cerritos Senior Center from 1997 to 2001. Prior to her work at the Senior Center, Carrie was a member of the Leisure Services Division where she began her work with the City in 1991. Carrie graduated from California State University at Fullerton in 1997 with her B.A. in Communications.

Alison Landers, Sacramento Public Library Team Leader
http://www.saclibrary.org/
Alison is currently the Deputy Director for Public Services for the Sacramento Public Library.

Patricia Laudisio, San Bernardino County Library Team Member
http://www.sbcounty.gov/library/homepage/default.htm
Patricia is currently the Facility Manager for San Bernardino County Library. She earned her MLS degree in 1972 from State University of New York at Buffalo and started her career as a librarian at Buffalo and Erie County Public Library. Her first position in California was the SIRCULS Coordinator for San Bernardino, Riverside and Inyo Counties. Attracted by the bright lights and the big city, she moved to Los Angeles and worked for 15 years with Los Angeles Public Library.

After a one year hiatus in Ft. Bragg, CA, she accepted a position as part of the management team for San Bernardino County Library. Her most recent project was the design and construction of the 20,000 SF Newton T. Bass Apple Valley Branch Library. She is currently working on additional building projects including the recently funded 30,000 SF Highland Library and Environmental Learning Center.

In addition to a diverse and rewarding 30-year career in libraries, Patricia has two daughters, two grandchildren, one husband and a reputation as a winning pool player.

Christine Lavond, Lodi Public Library Team Member
http://www.lodi.gov/library/
Christine was appointed to the Lodi Public Library Board of Trustees in July, 2000. In 2001/2002 she served as President of the Board and began serving as the liaison to the Lodi Public Library Foundation Board. She actively participates in fundraising and publicity for the Library Foundation. Christine has a 24 year career in banking and finance. She is married and has a five year old son.

Kathy Lawhun, San Francisco Public Library Team Leader
http://sfpl.org/
Kathy has been Chief of the Main Library for 2 years. She previously was Assistant Chief and long-time reference librarian in the business, science, technology & government documents areas of the Main Library. Having successfully coordinated the re-carpeting of the Main, she is now coordinating the redesign and modification of the sign system and the remodeling of the 1st Floor service areas along with spearheading a conspectus study of all collections in the Main.

Ngian Lek Choh, Speaker
http://www.nlb.gov.sg/
Ngian Lek Choh graduated from the University of Singapore with a B.Sc (Honours) in Physics in 1976, took a postgraduate diploma in Library Science from the University of Wales, UK, in 1981, and a diploma in System Science from the Institute of Systems Science, National University of Singapore in 1985. She also spent a month at INSEAD, France to study Advanced General Management in 2000.

Over the past 7 years, the National Library had evolved and transformed its system of 10 public libraries and 12 community children's libraries (CCLs) to a system of 22 public libraries and 46 CCLs.

Patti Lewis, Sonoma County Library Team Leader
http://www.sonomalibrary.org/
As the Children's Services Coordinator for Sonoma County's 13 branch libraries, Patti is committed to providing excellent services, collections, and programs to families, agencies, community groups, and students throughout the county. A librarian for almost 30 years, she has been a children's services librarian, a branch manager, and is currently managing an ELLI grant serving 420 Spanish speaking elementary school students and their families. She is involved with Families for Literacy, the Early Literacy coalition, Raising a Reader, Reach out and Read, and other community collaborations. She enjoys beach walks with her dog and husband, cooking, and yoga.

Jane Light, Speaker and Conference Advisory Committee Member
http://www.sjpl.lib.ca.us/
Jane Light was appointed director of the San Jose Public Library in March, 1997. Since her arrival she has infused the library system with a dynamic personal vision. Under her leadership the Library is on the fast track to becoming a model for the 21st Century Library. Within a few short years, the Library has introduced a high-tech bookmobile, launched eBranch - the public library online, introduced technology to its adult literacy program and begun a program of outreach and service to childcare providers.

For her visionary leadership and collaborative skills employed in service of the new Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, Light received the 2001 Client Achievement Award, awarded annually by the American Institute of Architects, California Council.

Barbara Lockwood, Calabasas Library Team Leader
http://www.cityofcalabasas.com/departments/library.html
Barbara Lockwood has been the Calabasas City Librarian since 1999. The Calabasas Library left the county system in 1998 and has grown rapidly and moved locations twice. With a small staff, the library offers many innovative programs such as infant storytime, a student run homework help center and locally televised book programs.

Barbara holds an MLS from UCLA and an MPA from the University of Colorado. She has over 15 years of library experience as a cataloger, reference and children's librarian and has also worked for state and local governments. Barbara has been the president of the Volunteer League of the San Fernando Valley for the past two years.

Linda Lubovich, San Mateo Public Library Team Leader
http://www.smplibrary.org/
Linda is a Library Team Coordinator for the San Mateo Public Library, where she has been employed the last 10 years. The library teams Linda leads are Information Services, Collection Development and Business Operations. Recent projects have included working with the Stanford University Alumni Consulting Team to draft a marketing plan template for the library and the development of a Holocaust Studies Collection. A native Californian, Linda received her BA and MLS degrees from San Jose State University. Prior to joining SMPL she held numerous positions with the Santa Clara County Library System. When she gets time away from work you can find Linda crafting or quilting, and volunteering at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles.

Marlys Maher, Salinas Public Library Team Member
http://www.ci.salinas.ca.us/BoardCom/libcomm/BClibc.html
Marlys is currently the Vice Chairperson of the Salinas Library Commission. Her library career began as a page at the El Monte branch of the County of Los Angeles Public Library, where she earned 35¢ per hour in 1942. Other things happened—working as a typist, as assistant policewoman, a social worker, and a mother. She did get back to libraries, getting her MLS at the University of Washington. She retired in 1985 after 18 years spent mostly in community college libraries.

Since retiring she has been active on “bikes and books” issues—transportation and libraries. In libraries that has been with the Friends of the Salinas Public Library and the city’s library commission.

Ann Mahon, South San Francisco Public Library Team Member
http://www.ssflibrary.org/
Ann is the Program Manager for Youth Services for the South San Francisco Public Library. After receiving her MLS from San Jose State University, Ann was a librarian for one of the Big Eight accounting firms. Once her two sons were school age and she began volunteering in their school libraries, she quickly realized that Dr. Seuss and Maurice Sendak were a lot more fun than accounting books. From on-call Children's Librarian to her current position took 12 years and she has loved every minute of it. Ann has the great fortune to work with a team of incredibly creative librarians who are willing to try just about anything from potato puppet shows to quilting bees to bring kids into the library. Ann is a native San Franciscan who never left and she enjoys growing roses in the fog.

Noam C. Maitless, San Bernardino County Library Team Member
http://www.rnldesign.com/

Yoram Makow, Conference Advisory Committee Member

Yoram is a design consultant who specializes in visual communications and environmental graphics. For over 30 years he has been an industrial/graphic designer and design consultant to major corporations and government agencies and a design professor, department chair and program director at Cal Poly University. He contributed to the design of the 1987 Cerritos Library. And was a consultant to the City of Cerritos for the design of the 2002 Cerritos Library.

Donna Mandel, San Mateo Public Library Team Member
http://www.ci.sanmateo.ca.us/dept/library/
Donna has worked as a reference librarian at San Mateo Public Library since January. Previously she worked at Oakland and San Francisco Public Libraries. She is active in ALA and serves on Mitch Freedman's Presidential Task Force on Better Salaries and Pay Equity. She is also a member of San Francisco Public Library's Branch Library Improvement Program Oversight Committee, an advisory body that monitors the expenditure of bond money to renovate and rebuild the branch libraries. In 1999 she secured a California State Library grant to build a bilingual young adult collection for the Cesar Chavez Library in Oakland. Before going to library school at San Jose State, Donna spent 17 years as an organizer, lobbyist and researcher for community, union and political organizations. When she's not in libraries she plays bridge, hikes, and roots for the San Francisco Giants.

Nancy C. Martinez, Lodi Public Library Team Leader
http://www.lodi.gov/library/
Currently, the Library Services Director at the Lodi Public Library Nancy C. Martinez arrived in the Central Valley in 1992. A native of upstate New York, she moved to Sacramento in the mid sixties. After attending Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington for two years, Nancy received a BA in English from UC Davis and a Masters of Library Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her career has included stints as a young adult librarian and branch librarian for the weber County Library in Ogden, Utah and children's librarian at the Sunnyvale and San Jose Public Libraries in California.

Florence Mason, Conference Evaluation Team Member

Florence Mason is a library consultant whose consulting practice includes work with public, academic and special libraries, government organizations and corporations on library building issues, library long range planning, library training and other issues related to the management of library and information services.

Deborah Mazzolini, Belvedere-Tiburon Library Team Leader
http://www.bel-tib-lib.org/
Deborah has been the Director of the Belvedere-Tiburon Library since moving to California from Massachusetts in 1996. In Massachusetts she was the Director of the Belmont Public Library near Boston and Assistant Director of the Concord Free Public Library in Concord, MA. She lives on the Tiburon Peninsula with her partner Eric Schoenberg, a guitarist and owner of a guitar shop in Tiburon. She rows on San Francisco Bay, enjoys bicycling in the Bay area, and is interested in photography. She has one son, one daughter-in-law, and two granddaughters who live in the LA area.

Elaine McConnell, Speaker
http://oceancounty.lib.nj.us/
Elaine McConnell has been the Library Director for the Ocean County Library since 1984. Under her guidance, the library has grown to be the largest county library system in New Jersey, serving a population of 527,000 through 20 locations, as well as receiving a national reputation for quality service and quality staff.

Elaine's personal advice for someone thinking of a librarian career: "Embrace change - it can be your ally and friend; challenge and stretch yourself continuously; keep human contact and the personal touch at the forefront of everything you do; and, most importantly, have fun!"

Gail McGovern, Conference Wizard
http://www.macnexus.org/users/gailmcgovern/
Gail McGovern is an independent consultant who specializes in training and consulting with libraries and other non-profit organizations. Topics include assessing community needs, building partnerships and community coalitions, fundraising, grantsmanship, long range planning, program planning and evaluation, public relations, serving diverse populations, time management, training trainers, trustee roles and responsibilities, and workshop planning.

Before becoming an independent consultant, Gail was a library development consultant at the California State Library for over 20 years. She is a member of the American Library Association, California Library Association and the American Society for Training and Development. She is the editor of the CLENExchange (newsletter of the CLENE Roundtable of the American Library Association) and writes a monthly column on Internet searching for Interface (newsletter of MacNexus, the Sacramento Macintosh Users Group). Her publications include Program Planning: Tips for Librarians and Working With Older Adults.

Teall Messer, Santa Cruz City County Library Team Member
http://members.cruzio.com/~amguitar/
Teall has been practicing architecture full time for over twenty years. Prior to that he was a building contractor. Even more prior he was a production potter. He understands construction, how to organize a project, how to put together a building and how to do so that it is affordable and keeps water out.

Nancy Messineo, Long Beach Public Library Team Member
http://www.lbpl.org/
Nancy is the Manager of Neighborhood Library Services for the Long Beach Public Library. She has most recently been involved in completing a Library Bond Act application for a proposed new branch library. Nancy, a native of Southern California, received her undergraduate degree in English from California State University, Long Beach, and her M.L.S. from the University of Southern California.

Nancy is married and has two children, Christina and Salvatore. When she isn't working, she enjoys reading, hiking, and spending time with her husband Frank and their overgrown puppy, Miss Hannah.

Carolyn Mueller, San Luis Obispo City-County Library Team Member
http://www.slonet.org/vv/slo_library/
Carolyn Mueller is the branch manager at the Los Osos Library in Los Osos, CA and is completing her 25th year in library service. She also serves on the county library's Sci/Tech and Juvenile Acquisitions Teams and is working on an expansion project for her branch.

Carolyn has a Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology and recently obtained a grant for books, software and equipment to focus on the local Morro Bay National Estuary. Past president and group representative for the Rotary, she is also a member of the Los Osos Historical Group and the Native Plan Society. Her interests include photography, gardening and travel.

Melody Mullis, San Luis Obispo City-County Library Team Member
http://www.slonet.org/vv/slo_library/
Melody is an Administrative Services Officer I for the San Luis Obispo City-County Library. She began her library service career as a temporary help Library Technician 15 years ago and has slowly moved up to her current position working in Library Administration as assistant to the Library Director. The main focus of her current position includes buildings and personnel.

Melody participated in several library moves, remodels and construction projects. She is a graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a Bachelor of Science in Ornamental Horticulture and in Applied Art and Design. Her hobbies and interests include woodcarving and computer graphics. She is currently editor of the statewide California Carvers Guild monthly publication "The Log."

Gary Muszynski, One World Music Facilitator
http://www.oneworldmusic.com/
Performing artist, educator and facilitator Gary Muszynski is a pioneer in the field of experiential training and development. He founded One World Music in 1987. Gary's broad musical experience and his unique ability to apply the principles of music to other areas have earned him recognition as an active contributor to the fields of music, group facilitation, and organizational development. Gary has conducted workshops through the Stanford School of Business' "Creativity in Business" class and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He also has presented his concepts about music as a metaphor for dealing with chaos and change to corporate audiences in Belgium, Canada, Germany, Italy and Singapore.

Sandra Novoa, County of Los Angeles Public Library Team Member
http://www.colapublib.org
Sandra started with the County Library 27 years ago as Children's Librarian. For about 20 years, she worked as the Librarian In Charge of 3 different libraries. In 2000, she was promoted to Regional Youth Services Coordinator, where she worked with the Children's Librarians in her region to promote great children's services. As of December 2002, she was again promoted to Assistant Regional Administrator where she assists in the supervision, hiring and mentoring of 18 Community Library Managers and 4 Resource Center Librarians. She finds this busy and challenging new position very gratifying because she works with some great people, who are dedicated to their jobs and extremely public services oriented.

Peggy O'Lea, Shasta County Library Team Member
http://www.shastacountylibrary.org/
Although the Shasta Library Foundation was founded in 1991, Peggy O'Lea was hired as its first executive director in September, 2002. Prior to that, she was employed by New Library Now! to direct a capital campaign for local funds required to apply for a state library grant. Peggy has a degree in psychology from U.C.L.A. and worked for the United Way of Los Angeles as a consultant to non-profit organizations for seven years prior to moving to Redding in 1984. Committed to public education as the driving force behind the ongoing growth of our country, Peggy has been a trustee for the Redding School District for 8 years and is president of the Educational Partnership for the New Millennium, a foundation supported by four separate school districts in Shasta County.

Julia M. Orozco, Salinas Public Library Team Leader
http://www.salinas.lib.ca.us/
A resident of South Salinas for the last eleven years, Julia is currently the Library Director for the Salinas Public Library. Her previous work experience includes almost 22 years with the County of Los Angeles Public Library where she held a variety of positions at various levels in the hierarchy. She has a Masters degree in Library Science and Masters degree in Public Administration--both from the University of Southern California and is currently working on a doctorate in Public Administration at Golden Gate University. Two of her main interests are lifelong learning and travel to out-of-the-ordinary places, e.g. Kenya/Tanzania, China, Machu Picchu.

Eileen Flick O'Shea, Conference web Designer
http://infopeople.org/
Eileen is a website designer and computer consultant who works for the Infopeople Project as their web Manager. She recently got married and is spending most of her time these days trying to convince people to use her married name.

Diana Paque, California State Library Team Leader
http://www.library.ca.gov/
Diana is a native Californian who has worked in library programs since 1971 and is an avid gardener and cook. She is currently the Bureau Chief for Library Development Services at the California State Library. In this position, she is responsible for oversight and development of all state and federal resources coming to California libraries through the State Library.

Diana's prior experience includes being the Director of the Library of California, Head Librarian at Solano Community College, Coordinator of Library/Learning Resources for the California Community Colleges, Assistant Director, Library Affairs for the California State University, Department Librarian for the San Mateo County Health Department, and Serials Librarian for the San Mateo County Library. She has a doctorate in public administration and an MSLS from the University of Southern California and a BA in History from Santa Clara University.

Roxanna Parker, Sutter County Library Team Member
http://www.co.sutter.ca.us/index.aspx?doc=/depts/library/library.xml
Roxanna is currently Director of Library Services at the Sutter County Library.

Waynn Pearson, Conference Dreamer
http://www.experiencelibrary.info/
For the past 21 years, Waynn has worked for the City of Cerritos as Library Director. He has worked for a variety of California library agencies: Ontario City Library, Pomona Public Library, Pasadena Public Library, and the Metropolitan Cooperative Library System.

In 1975 he received his Masters in Library Science from California State University, Fullerton; his Bachelors of Art is in Public Administration/Political Science from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California.

He has acted as a library-building consultant, technology consultant, and project manager on several projects. In 1984-87, he was the Project Manager for the Cerritos Public Library expansion project that received the American Library Association/American Institute of Architects Award of Excellence in 1989. For the next five years, he was the Assistant Project Manager for the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts building project. Most recently, he spent six years in a collaborative effort conceptualizing, designing, and constructing the first "Experience Library"--the new Cerritos Library.

Waynn was featured as a crusader in Library Journal's 2003 Movers and Shakers issue; he feels that, "In designing the new Cerritos Library, my team and I dispensed with our ideas about existing library models and started thinking about what motivates the people in our community. We changed our focus from books, services, programming, etc. to the user's experience--particularly the user's learning experience--as the library's primary product."

Roberta Perry, Conference Planning Team Member

Roberta Perry is owner of the business consulting company Roberta Perry & Associates. Her client list includes Cirque Du Soleil, Cutler Enterprises, ForSight Creations, the Cerritos "Experience" Library, Fox Studios, Mattel, and Paramount Studio's Creative Services.

Thad Phillips, Downey City Library Team Leader
http://www.downey.lib.ca.us/
Thad's library career began as a result of his attendance at a Bob Dylan concert at the Inglewood Forum. He found a classified ad for a library clerk at a Newport Beach branch and a month later he moved from Bakersfield to Newport Beach. What a change! He could ride his bike to the Corona del Mar Library and swim in the ocean during his lunch break. What a life and introduction to a community centered library system.