Blog

Hi, I'm Amy Koester, the Youth & Family Program Coordinator here at the library. I joined the staff in August 2014, and it's been a thrilling first year on the job!

I have two main responsibilities at the library: overseeing programs for kids and families, and managing some of the fiction collections for youth and teens. I work with colleagues from different departments in the library to put together our monthly offerings, and it's my job to make sure that we have a variety of programs--storytimes, performances, crafts, clubs, technology programs, science activities, etc.--for kids of every age; from babies up through the fifth grade. If you ever have an idea for a program, I'm always interested in hearing suggestions from the community!

The other part of my job is collection management. I spend several hours every week ordering new fiction books and making sure our existing collections are appealing to young Skokie readers. I try to preorder big-name upcoming releases as early as I can so you can put titles on hold way before the publication date, but if you don't yet see your must-read upcoming title in our catalog, never fear; it's on my radar. Stop by the Youth desk on Wednesday nights and we can chat about books!

Here are a few non-library fun facts about me:

I think Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the coolest Supreme Court Justice, and I love the Notorious RBG Tumblr (some of the content is not for kids!).

I'm a huge Jane Austen fan, and I make my coworkers celebrate the author's birthday with me every year, usually by baking scones or cookies, and sharing Jane Austen quotes. (Captain Wentworth is my favorite, if you were curious.)

If I weren't a librarian, I would be an exogeologist and study the geology of other planets, but since I am a librarian, I channel that interest into reading space opera, and keeping up on the latest news in space exploration.

Now that you know a bit about me, I hope you'll introduce yourself next time you see me at the Youth desk so that I can get to know you better!