Gail Brown, a librarian drawing Voorheesville together

The longtime head of Youth and Family Services at the Voorheesville library, Gail Brown has just been named Public Librarian of the Year by the New York State Library Association.Her goal is to create a community of learners. While she focuses on kids, her tendrils reach to nurture their parents and grandparents, too, as well as into the community at large.In one library project, Brown paired kids with veterans so that young people would understand the sacrifices of war. The Military Memories and Veterans Voices project made history come alive and Brown believes it is something the kids will carry with them for the rest of their lives.She recalls in this week’s podcast how one young man who loves history was paired with a Korean War veteran. “Mrs. Brown, this is better than any textbook,” he told her.Brown had started her career as an English teacher. She paused in her teaching to raise her own children and decided to become a librarian because it allowed her to be more creative in her pursuits, not restricted by set curricula.Brown was also instrumental in 2019, before the pandemic, in launching Voorheesville’s first Screen-Free Week.Read the full article here: https://tae.news/ifc Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.