2009 Eureka! Leadership Institute: Amanda Foust

Amanda Jacobs Foust is the Teen Services Librarian of the Novato Library in Marin County. She spends her days working the Reference Desk, ordering materials (both as a system and a branch selector), planning and executing teen programs and participating in meetings. She attends trainings and conferences as available and enjoys working with the Novato community whenever possible, including outreach to Marin County Juvenile Hall. Amanda recently led her Teen Advisory Group (TAG) in a fundraising effort to expand the teen area by participating in the Marin Human Race fundraiser. Along with private donations they were able to raise $2000 and with additional funding from the Friends of the Novato Libraries. With design input from TAG, the Teen Expansion was completed in August.

She is a member of ALA, PLA, YALSA, BAYA and CLA, where she is a new member of the Caifornia Summer Reading Program committee. Previous to working in Novato, Amanda worked for Oakland Public Library and for the Oakland Museum of California Paul Mills Archives and Art Library. She completed her MLIS at San Jose State University in 2004 and obtained her BA from Mills College in Communications, with a special emphasis on letterpress printing. She has worked in a combination of blue and white collar jobs, and for both corporations and non-profits, providing her with a unique insight into the strengths and weaknesses of both types of organizations.

Amanda is a native of the Inland Empire, an avid reader and second generation librarian. She has lived in the Bay Area for the last 15 years and currently resides in Richmond with her husband and three cats. She is looking forward to honing her organizational and leadership skills through the experience of the Eureka! Leadership Institute, while working to improve programming and services to both her branch community and system overall.