Malinda is currently the Director of Programs and Partnerships at the LA Law Library where she heads up the community based outreach unit of the LA Law Library. Since 2010, the Programs and Partnerships group has provided on ground training for more than 250 public librarians on the topics of legal reference, finding forms, and how to find and hire (or fire!) an attorney. Having been well received in the field, the group is currently working on creating additional staff development programs as well. In addition, the Programs and Partnerships group has worked with public librarians who are interested in bringing legal information literacy to their communities. Current topics and issues the unit has coordinated in conjunction with area non-profit legal aid services and public library partners include mediation, debt collection, veterans’ rights, teen dating safety, deferred action, and Citizenshipworks.org workshops. The group’s mission is to continue to focus on partnerships which help foster public access to legal information for both the professional and general lay person.
Malinda is a career librarian where her first ten years were spent as a k-12 school librarian in a northern Vermont town with more cows than people, half the school disappearing during the fall hay season, and Reading is Fundamental book fairs rocked. In the mid-1980’s Malinda returned to her native state of sunny California where she spent the next 23 years as a private law firm librarian. During this tenure, Malinda enjoyed being part of the Sunday crew on the reference desk of several public libraries where she honed an appreciation for the public librarian’s resourcefulness when fielding diverse questions in a multitude of subject areas.
Malinda received both her BA (English) and MLS from the University of Denver, Colorado. When not working, Malinda is looking for any reason to be outside, avoid department stores and volunteering for health related, activity based, fundraisers and non-profit organizations.