Type Away Cait

With the encouragement and inspiration of powerful women as well as her husband, Miriam Schwartz is co-founder of Baketivity , a small business that sells baking kits filled with step-by-step recipes, ingredients and fun themed activities for the whole family. “It creates a certain homey sweet atmosphere and the environment does calm down and make them connect with each other," Schwartz said. Read full article here.

  photo courtesy: Kristen Higgins, Nanuet Public Library children’s librarian Sam Sambrato shares what she loves most about working in the teen services department. “I feel like I have days where I get to be goofy and I get to be fun,” she said. Read full article here.

  photo courtesy: Katrina Hohlfeld Katrina Hohlfeld shares what she loves most about working at Valley Cottage Library, a place that she considers a second home.  “I just knew some really amazing librarians growing up, and now I get to work with some of the same librarians that inspired me to work in this field,” she said. Read full article here.

photo courtesy: Cavalier House Books @chbbookstore / Instagram DENHAM SPRINGS, La. — Michelle Cavalier describes her fifth grade year as the "greatest reading year" of her life, a time of "childhood civil disobedience." It was the year that she was first introduced to Lois Lowry's "The Giver," but after a parent complained of its content, it was removed from the classroom. When the teacher realized that the class was passing around the novel and reading it in secret, she offered them the choice to read the new book,  Sounder by William H. Armstrong , or continue reading "The Giver" and take a test.  "I can still feel how excited we were, really feeling as though we were doing something powerful and secret, and when I look back on it, it truly was a turning point for me as a reader and an individual," she said.   "'The Giver' is a novel about empathy and the power of memory and stories; about how when we allow fear and ...

photo credit: Aldona Pilmanis, Nyack Library Head of Youth Services Morgan Strand says that what she loves most about working for a library is giving back to her community.  “We just try to form connections in the teen room, lifelong connections,” she said. Read full article here.

photo courtesy: Broadway Books website PORTLAND, Ore. — Kim Bissell will never forget when she learned of an opportunity that any bibliophile couldn’t resist. In 2014, Roberta Dyer, co-founder of Broadway Books , located at 1714 N.E. Broadway, was looking for someone to fill in as co-owner with Sally McPherson. “When the opportunity arose in my neighborhood bookstore, I live about five blocks away from the store, I jumped,” Bissell said. Broadway Books, which was originally an old furniture store, first opened in 1992 by two best friends Dyer and Gloria Borg Olds. After Olds retired, McPherson became co-owner with Dyer in 2007, and seven years later Dyer was looking to do the same. An avid reader, active in author visits and book fairs and well-known in Portland’s book community, Bissell was the perfect person. Home to Powell’s City of Books , the largest bookstore in the world, Bissell describes Portland as a “literary city.” “It makes a nice stop for authors who are touring to g...

  photo courtesy: Susan Babcock Susan Babcock shares what she loves most about working for a library and her thoughts on banning books and editing classic literature.  "Years ago people came in and they couldn't necessarily find a.book that reflected what they're family looks like and now they can. I think that's a good thing," she said.  Read full article here.