2009 Eureka! Leadership Institute: Katherine Loeser

I work at the Pacific Park Branch of the Glendale Public Library. Though technically a children's librarian, I share the collection development for all areas of the library with my branch manager and do programming for children, tweens, teens, and differently-abled adults.

I have over 14 years experience volunteering, interning, and working in the library world. Previous job experiences, working in a childcare area in a fitness center and volunteer work in a LAUSD pre-school, helped prepared me for the unique atmosphere of the Pacific Park Branch Library, a joint use facility with an elementary school and a community center.

My desire for continued professional development keeps me busy through the year attending as many workshops, conferences, and children's literature events as I can. I am also a member of the Los Angeles based P.A.L.S (Puppets and Library Storytimes) group, a cooperative group of children's librarians, educators and storytellers that share ideas for library storytimes and puppet shows. When I am not working, I love to garden, watch really bad 80's movies with my Labrador Retriever, go to Disneyland, listen to audiobooks, and read with my cats.

I wanted to attend this program to build confidence in my leadership abilities. I always have a multitude of ideas ready to put into practice at my branch. I hope this leadership institute will teach me the skills to bring my ideas to fruition.