The Collection Management Division of MCPL is where the magic happens – selecting, ordering, processing, cataloging and delivering the materials that are available for checkout in all our 21 branches. Need something that is not in our collection? Books, magazines, ebooks, eresources and more are all made available through the hard work of this division.
Dianne Betsey came to MCPL in September 1990 as the Executive Administrative Aide to then Director Agnes Griffin. During the six years Dianne worked in that capacity, she completed her bachelor’s degree in communications from Trinity College in Washington, DC. She continued as Executive Administrative Aide to Director Harriet Henderson after Director Griffin retired in 1996. In 2001, she applied for and was accepted as a Library Associate I in Collection Management’s cataloging section. In 2003, having completed her library associate training, Dianne was promoted to Library Associate II. Her term project was to start an African American book club in Rockville Library. Dianne has been in cataloging for 17 years. The African American Book Discussion Group she started is nearing its 16th anniversary. In addition to book discussions, the group has been creating Black History Month displays for the last 15 years.
Beth Chandler is a Librarian II selector at Collection Management. She buys graphic novels, adult Spanish-language titles, and nearly half the adult nonfiction for MCPL. Following a career in publishing, Beth earned her MLS at Rutgers University. She spent 15 years working in public libraries, five of them with MCPL, doing everything from infant storytimes to online reference to a family sock-puppet-crafting night. Beth loves buying a wide range of titles for MCPL customers and participating in MoComCon, MCPL’s comic convention. You may have heard her speak about MoComCon on a recent episode of the Library Matters podcast. At home, she and her husband have a large collection of books and share a love of science fiction, fantasy, and their brilliant and elegant cat.
Mary Green has worked at MCPL for 23 years. She has been with Collection Management for six months. Her favorite thing about working in cataloging is loading the files and discovering what the system is ordering. She loves that the library offers DVDs and express books and loves to borrow just about anything that catches her eye. There are too many authors Mary likes, but she does enjoy reading historical fiction and nonfiction. She is currently reading Warlight and working on a variety of items.
Stefan Hall has worked at MCPL for three years. His favorite thing about working in the fiscal & delivery unit is taking inventory of all books as they’re unboxed. He loves that the library offers the latest movies from Midwest Tape & Audio Books, too. Stefan’s favorite author is Mary Pope Osborne.
Arlene Means has worked at MCPL for nearly 20 years and at Collection Management for 2-1/2 years. Working in Collection Management has allowed her to experience and appreciate the team effort required to make MCPL’s wide variety of materials available for customers. Her favorite offerings from the library are e-magazines to read on her tablet and online classes from Lynda.com. Arlene likes nonfiction (Malcolm Gladwell), historical fiction (Philippa Gregory), mysteries (Martha Grimes), with a little biography for good measure.
JoEllen Sarff joined MCPL in November 2015 as the children’s non-fiction book selector in Collection Management. She grew up in Rockford, Illinois and moved to Maryland in 1978. Before coming to MCPL, she worked at Prince George’s County Memorial Library System for 34 years. During those years, she worked as a Children’s Librarian, Teen Librarian, Adult Librarian and Branch Manager and also managed a grant project called Wee Care, an outreach service that visited family daycare providers to teach and encourage providers to present storytime programs to the children in their care. JoEllen received her MLS from University of Maryland College Park. The favorite part of her job is choosing just the right children’s non-fiction book to meet the needs of staff and customers. When not working, JoEllen enjoys scrapbooking and making greeting cards to share with family and friends, as well as, to sell at local craft fairs. She also enjoys baking cookies and cakes, playing the ukulele, playing with her three cats and visiting her son.
Karen Simon walked into the Olney Library one spring day in 1996 to find that circulation staff was administering a test for shelvers. She took the test, and her career at MCPL began. After shelving at Olney for nine years, she moved on to Circulation Sub, Library Desk Assistant, then Library Assistant I. Twenty-two years later, she now works in her personal Shangri-La as an Administrative Assistant at Collection Management. She has worked with many wonderful people throughout her career. Karen say, “Time sure does fly and so much of it was fun.”
