WebJunction

As the Assistant Director at NEFLIN, a regional multitype library cooperative serving 540 libraries in Northeast Florida, Stephanie is responsible for overseeing many of the projects and services offered by NEFLIN. Stephanie is a native Floridian who worked in public and community college libraries in South Florida and at a university library in the Tampa Bay area before coming to NEFLIN.

Last year Stephanie worked with members to rollout a NEFLIN Mini-Grant program. This program allowed NEFLIN libraries to apply for funds that can be used for any project at their library. Each grant application could be funded up to a maximum of $10,000.  Thirty-nine applications, requesting over $250,000, were submitted. The NEFLIN Board of Directors awarded $100,000 to fund 14 projects. The applications that received funding have all had a visible impact on the community the library serves.

Some examples of the projects and the ability of libraries to build on this grant include:

• Suwannee River Regional Library purchased a wireless lab and leveraged the technology to make wireless accessible to patrons outside of training. 
• Marion County Public Schools purchased large print collections for struggling readers for seventeen secondary schools. 
• Lake City Community College received funds to modernize the library’s appearance and enhance promotional resources for programming and services.  These changes resulted in contributions and collaboration from other campus departments.

A few other projects on her plate are the continued promotion of NEFLIN 2.0, designed to introduce library staff to new technology and social networking software, and training library staff to use all the varied services available through the Florida Electronic Library.

Stephanie has also worked with the State Library and Archives of Florida on a variety of projects, including the Sunshine State Library Leadership Institute, a statewide technology conference, and the annual Florida Library Director’s Meeting. These projects bring library staff from all over the state together and give Stephanie the opportunity to learn more about the issues facing other regions of the State.

April found Stephanie enjoying her annual trip to Antigua, Guatemala as part of a mission team doing construction for the schools affiliated with Rey de la Naciones. She finds the relationships that have been built with the students incredibly rewarding and enjoys the opportunity for an adventure of climbing an active volcano or exploring 1,000 year old Mayan ruins. Someday she’ll master Spanish.

Stephanie has been a WebJunction fan since it’s inception in 2003.  She became actively involved in supporting the project when NEFLIN Member and WebJunction Advisory Committee member Danny Hales volunteered her to serve as an Advocate. She was a trainer and coordinator for the WebJunction Rural Library Sustainability Project (RLSP) in Florida and participated in the Rural Forum at ALA 2007. 

She is an ardent promoter of all things WebJunction and feels that the mission and services of WebJunction dovetail perfectly with the real needs of real library staff. WebJunction offers NEFLIN members an amazing amount of benefit, from the networking with colleagues around the country to the training. Stephanie takes every opportunity to promote the resources available through WebJunction to NEFLIN member libraries and Florida libraries. 

Stephanie has presented at local, state, and national conferences, and will participate in various WebJunction events at ALA. She blogs as part of the NEFLIN team on the Blah, Blah, Blah Blog.