Academics:   Master of Library and Information Science

Jaime Greene is a Program Officer for the US Libraries Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Prior to joining the foundation, Greene was a pioneer in the nonprofit technology field helping community organizations leverage the power of technology for positive social change. She served as Executive Director of NPower Seattle and as a founding staff member in NPower she was instrumental in the development of a national network designed to put technology tools in the hands of nonprofit organizations. Her work experience also includes a diverse background in public sector work in youth development, environmental education, and City of Seattle Planning and GIS (Geographical Information Systems).

Greene has an undergraduate degree in Urban/Social/Political Geography from the University of Washington and completed post baccalaureate work as a San Francisco-based Coro fellow in public affairs and Stanford's Executive program for nonprofit leaders.

Susan Hildreth oversees The Seattle Public Library, which includes the world-renowned Central Library, 26 new and expanded branches and a Mobile Services division. The Library operates on a $50 million budget and has approximately 700 staff members. The busy system served more than 13 million visitors last year and circulated more than 11 million books and materials - a 20 percent increase over the previous year.

Hildreth is the former state librarian of California, where she managed a $70 million budget supporting California libraries and cultural institutions.

Before her 2004 appointment by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hildreth was city librarian of San Francisco, overseeing an annual operating budget of more than $58 million and a $130 million building program.

Hildreth was president of the Public Library Association and served on its board of directors. She was an elected member of the council that governs the American Library Association. She was a longtime member of the California Library Association and served as its president and treasurer.

Hildreth graduated cum laude from Syracuse University and holds a master's degree in library science from the State University of New York at Albany and a master's degree in business from Rutgers University.

Georgia Lomax is Deputy Director of the Pierce County (WA) Library System. In previous library lives, she has been Director of the Miles City (MT) Public Library, Director of the Flathead County (MT) Library System and a Managing Librarian with the King County Library System.

She began her adventure in libraries as a volunteer during Junior High (her specialty was shelf reading picture books), then became a page at the King County Library System and later a library assistant working in branches and in the Traveling Library Center serving the homebound.

Her boss eventually posed the question: “Have you considered a career in libraries?” After graduating with a degree in journalism from Washington State University, she went on to obtain her MLS from the University of Washington iSchool.

Marilyn Mason recently retired as Founder and Executive Director of WebJunction.

Previously she was Director of the Cleveland Public Library and the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library. She also served as the Director of the First White House Conference on Library and Information Services from 1979 to 1980 and was appointed by President Clinton to the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science in 1999.

Mason is a frequent contributor to the professional press and is a regular speaker at national and international meetings, conferences and seminars. Mason received a bachelor's degree from the University of Dallas, a Master of Library Science from North Texas State University and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University.

Betty Mayfield has been responsible for managing all aspects of the personal and corporate book, archival and media collections for the Allen family since 1991. Library collections include personal archives, oral histories, book and print materials as well as a significant audio and video collection. Digital access and preservation of the media collection, design of library software, along with traditional online catalog access to the collection are a main goal of the library department.

Prior to working at Vulcan, Betty was a library consultant and has worked in corporate libraries in Canada, Australia and the United States. Betty was a recent board member for the Friends of the University of Washington Libraries. She holds a B.A. in history from the University of Calgary and an M.L.S. from the University of British Columbia.

Vulcan Inc. is a Seattle-based company owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen. The company oversees Allen's philanthropic efforts and business interests, including investments in biotechnology, aerospace and real estate. The company is run by Allen's sister, CEO Jo Allen Patton.

Jill McKinstry is the Director of the Odegaard Undergraduate Library and Special Assistant to the Dean of University Libraries for Undergraduate Education and Programs at the University of Washington. McKinstry is a graduate of the University of Washington Information School and has been a librarian at the UW for the past 23 years.

McKinstry is a passionate advocate for libraries and partnerships. Working closely with the UW Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, she co-founded the lecture series “Research Exposed” to introduce students to the research efforts of faculty on campus in a variety of disciplines. In 2003, McKinstry created the UW Library Research Award for Undergraduates to celebrate and reward students’ research and creative activities. She is the past co-chair of the selection committee for the UW Common Book and also a member of the Board of Trustees for University Book Store. She received the University of Washington David B. Thorud Leadership Award in 2009.

McKinstry and her husband established the McKinstry Libraries Fellowship in 2001, an endowment that provides financial assistance to graduate students from underrepresented populations to pursue an MLIS degree. For more on the McKinstry fellows, visit the Fellowship website.

Nancy Pearl speaks about the pleasures of reading to library and community groups throughout the world and comments on books regularly on NPR's Morning Edition. She’s the author of Book Crush: For Kids and Teens: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Interest; Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason; and More Book Lust: 1,000 New Reading Recommendations for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason, all published by Sasquatch Books. In 2004 she was awarded the Women's National Book Association Award, given to "a living American woman who … has done meritorious work in the world of books beyond the duties or responsibilities of her profession or occupation." In 1998, Library Journal named her Fiction Reviewer of the Year. On her monthly television show, Book Lust with Nancy Pearl, she has interviewed authors as diverse as E. L. Doctorow, Ann Patchett, and Terry Pratchett.

Pearl received her library degree in 1967 from the University of Michigan. Among her many honors and awards are the 2004 Women's National Book Association Award; the Brava Award from the Seattle Women’s University Club, recognizing "women of exceptional ability in the Greater Seattle Area;" the 2004 Louis Shores Greenwood Publishing Group Award for excellence in the reviewing of books and other materials for libraries; the 2004 Media and Communications Award from the Ontario, Canada, Library Association; the 2003 Humanities Washington Award, "which recognizes an individual or organization whose time and talents enlarge the meaning of the humanities in our lives and whose work reflects the spirit and programs of Humanities Washington;" and the Public Library Association’s 2001 Allie Beth Martin Award, which "recognizes a public librarian demonstrating a range and depth of knowledge about books and other library materials and the distinguished ability to share that knowledge." She also was named the Totem Business and Professional Women’s "1998 Woman of Achievement" award and received the 1997 Open Book Award from the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference. She is the model for the Librarian Action Figure.

Marisa Quinn directs the corporate library group within BlackRock Alternative Advisors, the firm's fund of funds platform. Quinn provides research assistance and information organization expertise across the platform.

Quinn joined BlackRock in 2007 following the acquisition of the fund of funds business of Quellos Group, LLC. At Quellos, she was an Associate Director and Head of the Corporate Library, providing research assistance, collaborating with portfolio managers and analysts on manager identification and providing information management expertise to all departments within the company. From 1998 to 2001, Quinn managed The McKenna Group's Technology Research Center, providing in-depth market research on high-tech, telecom and Internet markets. From 1996 to 1998, she was a Research Associate with the Stanford University Computer Industry Project, which was funded by the Sloan Foundation.

Quinn earned a BA degree with a concentration in mathematics and a BA degree with a concentration in history from the Dominican University of California in 1996 and a MLIS degree from San Jose State University in 1998.

Jim Scheppke has worked at the Oregon State Library since 1986 and was named the State Librarian of Oregon in 1991. Prior to that, he worked at the Texas State Library and in the West Texas Library System. He was as an independent bookseller before becoming a librarian.

Scheppke has served as president of the Oregon Library Association and of the Western Council of State Libraries, and has written numerous articles for professional library publications. He was named Oregon Library Association Librarian of the Year in 1996 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oregon Association of School Libraries in 2001.

He earned his Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

In the past eight years Aaron Schmidt has been a circulation clerk, reference librarian, and library director. Shortly after completing his MLIS at Dominican University, Schmidt saw the potential of applying new media technology to libraries and launched successful programs at his suburban Chicago public library.

Helping the library connect to its community through things such as instant messaging, weblogs and social software led to Schmidt publishing articles in Library Journal, School Library Journal, Library High Tech News, Online, and others. He has presented on the topic of library technology and usability throughout the United States, and in Canada, the UK, the Netherlands and Spain. In 2005, Schmidt was named a Library Journal "Mover & Shaker."

Schmidt moved to Portland in 2006 and became the director of a nearby public library. He helped the library grow and gain full membership in the Washington County Cooperative. During this time he continued to write, give presentations and workshops, and consult for other libraries.

Currently he is the Digital Initiatives Librarian for the District of Columbia Public Library. He helps plan forward-thinking, fun projects for the library, helping them connect to the community and teaching them about the Read/Write Web. He also assists with Web site visioning, conducts usability testing, leads the library's Library 2.0 Interest Group and helps coordinate and generate ideas for the library's digital research and development project called DC Library Labs.

His library technology and usability weblog is www.walkingpaper.org.

Lucia Schubert is the librarian at Mercer Island High School, a position she has held for the last 15 years. She received her undergraduate degree in Political Science and a master’s degree with honors in Library Science in 1982, both from the University of Washington.

She is passionate about enabling students to be effective users of information and ideas and appreciative readers of literature. The world of teenagers, books and computers is her idea of heaven!

Maria Stanton is the Director of Editorial Content for Serials Solutions, a unit of ProQuest, that markets e-resource discovery and management services to the library market. She joined Serials Solutions in March 2008 with close to 20 years experience in the information industry leading editorial and technical programs.

Prior to joining Serials Solutions, Stanton served as Executive Editor at CCH, a business unit of Wolters Kluwer, where she lead the editorial team responsible for tax research publications in both print and electronic formats.

Stanton's career includes eight years at Gale, where her responsibilities included both product development and editorial standards for online offerings, including some of the first Resource Centers. She also served as the Director of Product Development for Comtex News Network in Alexandria, Virginia, where she introduced the company's first XML data feed in 1999.

Stanton started her career in the editorial department at ProQuest, then known as UMI, in 1989, eventually supporting the first release of ProQuest Online.

Marcie Stone is a graduate of the University of Washington with a B.A. in English Literature and a Master of Library Science. She recently retired after a 30-year career with the federal government, and moved back to Seattle after a long absence. She and her husband have founded their own company, Custom Consulting, LLC, which is a component of the UW’s Creative Consulting Network and also provides writing and program management consulting services to the region’s nonprofit community.

Stone's career began in Army post libraries in Germany, where she managed all library operations and provided services ranging from pre-school story hours to post-graduate research. After transferring to the Washington, D.C., area in 1980, she joined the staff of the Pentagon Library, working as a cataloger and subsequently heading a specialized reference and research program.

In 1987, Stone moved to the Defense Technical Information Center, the central Defense Department resource for the collection, organization and dissemination of technical reports and research management information. In 20 years with DTIC, she served in a number of positions, including: Pentagon Liaison to provide customized information products for the Defense research community; User Services manager for Congressionally mandated programs; conference planner; manager of research, reference and training; management of financial and personnel resources; and oversight manager for strategic planning. Her favorite assignment was the 10 years she spent heading a division that combined IT personnel, program analysts and librarians into teams that conceived and implemented emerging IT applications. This division developed and hosted more than 100 Web sites, beginning in the mid 1990s, and DTIC went on to become the center of excellence for Web development and hosting within the department.

Alex Wade is Director for Scholarly Communication within Microsoft's External Research division, where he oversees several projects related to researcher productivity tools, semantic information capture and the interoperability of information systems. Wade holds a bachelor's degree in Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Librarianship degree from the University of Washington.

During his career at Microsoft, Alex has managed the corporate search and taxonomy management services; has shipped a SharePoint-based document and workflow management solution for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance; and served as Senior Program Manager for Windows Search.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Alex held Systems Librarian, Engineering Librarian, and Philosophy Librarian, and technical library positions at the University of Washington, the University of Michigan, and the University of California, Berkeley.

Jan Walsh is Director of all operations of the Washington State Library. She represents the State Library and all libraries in the State with other state, regional, and national agencies and organizations; provides leadership and direction for the development of libraries statewide; and develops information policy. Walsh was appointed State Librarian and Division Director, Washington State Library, Office of the Secretary of State, in 2002, after serving as Assistant Director for Customer Service from 1997.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from the Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Library Science from the University of Pittsburgh. She has held numerous positions in the American Library Association and the Washington Library Association and is currently president of the Western Council of State Libraries.

Walsh's passion is encouraging reading through statewide reading promotion and she supports awareness of Washington's heritage through programs like the Washington Reads program.