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.

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.

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!

Carol Schuyler is Director of Support Services with Kitsap Regional Library.

Her responsibilities include Youth Services, Reference Services, Outreach and Bookmobile Services and Technical Services. She also serves on the Library's Management Team and is a past president of the Washington Library Association.

She received her Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Washington.

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.