NYPL Bloggers

Andy Wagstaff is first and foremost a lover of great music, and secondly a librarian who works in collection development purchasing non-print formats for all the branches. He blogs about personal favorite albums in his blog series Great Albums You May Have Missed, and compiles a monthly Best of Patron Requests series, which highlights the most exciting music that is suggested by our patrons each month (submit your own request here!). When not at work or listening to music, he makes his own: this may include folk songs written by Russian Cosmonauts about the loneliness of intergalactic space travel, covering '80s hair metal tunes in the style of Simon & Garfunkel, or experimentally evoking the ashen and lifeless landscapes of WWI battlefields.

Anne Rouyer is currently a Supervising Young Adult Librarian at the Seward Park Branch Library and has worked at the New York Public Library for 13 years. She is a member of the Young Adult Library Association and has served on the Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers booklist committee and will serve on the William C. Morris YA Debut Author committee in 2012. She contributes reviews and reading lists to the Seward Park Bibliocommons page and different NYPL blogs, including: Stuff for the Teenage and Biblio File. She watches way too much TV, is obsessed with pop culture, loves books that involve romance, history, mystery and the paranormal and she is a certifed Anglophile (see blog entries on Downton Abbey and the Royal Wedding).

I'm a librarian at Ask NYPL, and have worked in this department since July of 2001. I spend my days answering questions via telephone, chat, e-mail, and sometimes even in person. It's hard work, our department is always busy and everyday I have to think outside of the box, but it's good, honest work, and I think what we all do here at Ask NYPL helps to make this city and world a nicer place in which to live.

Keep bringing on your questions!

I'm the Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts for the Music Division.  My interests center around film music, musicals, incidental music for dramas, opera, bibliography, music theory, manuscripts and archival collections - I have interest in many varied things. 

I first started working at The New York Public Library in 1974 as a page for the Music Division.  I returned in 1985 and have been working here ever since.

 Carmen Nigro has a B.A. in History, Masters in Teaching Secondary Social Studies, and Masters in Library and Information Science. She has great interest in the quirkier elements of history and teaching people to become great researchers. 

Diana Bertolini grew up in Middlebury, Vermont and graduated from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, with a concentration in Musical Theatre and Literature. While working as a researcher on the books The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II and Broadway: The American Musical, Diana discovered archives, and applied to the Pratt Institute, where she received a Masters in Information and Library Science. She began her career at NYPL in 2005 as an intern for the Wilson Project, where she was subsequently offered a full time job. At the Wilson Project and at the Manuscripts and Archives Division, where she has worked since 2008, Diana has processed over 30 archival collections from the Billy Rose Theatre Division, the Music Division and the Manuscripts and Archives Division. Musical theatre is Diana’s primary focus, but she also has expertise in straight theatre and classic Hollywood films. In addition to her scholarly interest in musical theatre, Diana is also a singer who performs at various cabaret venues in the city.

Elaine Sohn is the Site Advisor at the Aguilar CRW, where students and tutors learn together 6 days each week in small groups. Elaine supports 35 tutors and 125 students and loves to share the excitement of the Aguilar CRW activities which take place each day!  Some of her blogs detailed the activities of a digital photography class, the fall opening of the center, her wonderful literacy tutors and her students' pen pal project.  Elaine blogs because she's been encouraged to do so by her family, her management, and her colleagues — and because she knows that what's happening at 174 East 110th Street is worthy of shouting about! 

Elizabeth Griffin is a Senior Page at Tompkins Square Library. She is majoring in Business Journalism at Baruch College and hopes to use her experience to write about her first love: Asian Dramas. Elizabeth has worked for the library for five years and hopes to proudly continue to do so. She is a voracious reader and Korean Drama lover. She is always open to new suggestions on what to read and always open to suggest cry-inducing Korean Dramas to watch. 

Fotis Flevotomos is a Fulbright visiting artist at the New York Public Library. While in NYC, he will be engaged in provoking interest in and discussion around the value of art for people with low vision. Flevotomos had previously exhibited some of his work and spoken at Mid-Manhattan Library  in June 2011 as part of an artist panel for Low Vision and Blindness Resource Day.

Gregory Zeidner has been with the NYPL since 2006.  He currently the teen librarian at the St. George branch.

A native North-westerner, Jaqueline has a strong love for sweatshirts and little understanding of umbrellas. She joined AskNYPL as an MLIS intern from Rutgers University in 2010 and hasn’t looked back. Upon graduating she received specialties in Digital Libraries and Knowledge Management. Jaqueline enjoys all things reference and learning creative ways to find information. Outside the library, she tries to stay outdoors always navigating ‘old school’ with her wits, a compass, and a map. Failing this, you’ll find her lamp-side with a book, some chai, and her cat.

 Jessica Cline is a librarian with the Art and Picture Collections of the Mid-Manhattan Library. She blogs about fine arts, design and poetry and leads book discussions through The Reader’s Den.

I work with the teens at the Morris Park Branch Library. I blog for the branch and I enjoy writing about books and the wonderful programs that we offer here at the library. I am mostly a fiction lover weather for teens or adults so those are the books I usually choose to critique. Sad stories full of teen angst are my favorites. However, I also love writing about food memoirs, and in my estimation, food is definitely the tie that binds all humans. 

Karen has been at the Mid-Manhattan Library since 2009 in the History Department.  She was a teacher of French and English Literature for 8 years before joining NYPL. Karen enjoys curating and hosting film series on Wednesday nights at 7 p.m.  When blogging, she writes about places she visits and the art she enjoys.

11 years at SIBL — reformed serial career-changer — seeking to better illuminate SIBL's collections, services and happenings.

Laura Rietz is the production assistant for the Multimedia Content team at NYPL, where she contributes to projects such as Biblion and Point and writes about Library-produced audio and video content for The NYPL Broadcast. When not producing videos or eBooks, she consumes media in the form of weird rock music, quality dramatic television, and books recommended by her nine-year-old cousin, Charlie. In fourth grade, she came in third place in her elementary school spelling bee, where she was eliminated for misspelling "interpret." She has yet to forgive herself.

Lindsy Serrano (MLS, Indiana University) is a Senior Librarian for the New York Public Library, specializing in Young Adult Services. She has served on the board of Literacy for Incarcerated Teens, a non-profit group that funds libraries and literacy programming in New York City’s juvenile detention centers and is currently a contributor for Stuff for the Teenage, NYPL’s blog for YA readers. In her free time, Lindsy helped develop the library’s zine and independent press collection, worked with the award winning library project, What's on the Menu, and films videos that highlight NYPL’s arts and crafts collection.

Magdalene Chan is a librarian and a career coach at SIBL.  Prior to joining the Library, she was a career counselor at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY, and a school guidance counselor in New York City public schools.  She holds a Bachelor's degree in Sociology from Queens's College, CUNY, and received her Master's degree in Counseling Education from NYU and her Master's degree in Library and Information Science from Long Island University.  She did some research on International Education on a doctoral level at NYU.

Maura Muller is the Volunteer Manager at The New York Public Library since 2000. She is active in the New York Association of Volunteer Managers and the Volunteer Program Managers of NYC's Cultural Institutions. In her spare time she homeschools her son and is an Eagle Watch volunteer for the Basha Kill Area Association and a volunteer 4H activities leader. 

A graduate of Goldsmiths College, London, and the Pratt Institute, Philip is interested in the genealogy of buildings, social history, and research in general, and currently teaches classes in New York City house history research. He has also been a recommended researcher at the Brooklyn Historical Society.

Children's Librarian at the Jefferson Market Branch Library

Ruth Rodriguez is currently a Librarian Trainee at the Grand Concourse Branch in the Bronx. When she is not working at her branch, she is visiting other branches and borrowing books. Her favorite pastimes include reading children's books, looking up information on databases, and painting in her studio in Harlem. She is also a fan of writing in third person.

 Shawn Donohue is a Learning and Development Specialist at NYPL with a focus on technology training for NYPL Staff. Besides focusing on education, training and technology, Shawn has a deep love of music.  Having written extensively on his own, Shawn contributes to the Popular Music Blog Channel with a focus on the Great Music You Might Have Missed NYPL Blog Series.  Having written hundred's of music reviews, conducted interviews, and launched his own blog focused on popular music, Shawn has been actively following the popular music scene for years and brings a unique voice to NYPL Blogs.  Not only a critic, he has also creates music and hopes to bring a life long fan perspective to shaping tunes.