Graduate Student and Staff Member Empowered by Continued Learning

In the academic land of 10 pound tomes about philosophies and methodologies and phraseologies, there is a 32-page book that Amy Johnson thinks everyone should read.

“Good Night, Gorilla” is one of her favorite picture books from a list that she promotes for “kids of all ages.” Johnson, a library technician II in the Curriculum Materials Library (CML), is also a master's student in the College of Education , studying children's and young adult literature. The CML, part of the UNLV Libraries system, is a model school library and a resource stocked with juvenile literature and teaching materials.

Johnson received money from the UNLV Classified Staff Development Fund to attend the American Library Association's annual conference last year. Created in December 1995, this award is exclusively for UNLV classified staff and is comprised of donations from other employees who want to provide professional and/or work-related developmental opportunities for their campus colleagues. The Annual Fund matches gifts dollar-for-dollar to increase the program's reach.

“The Classified Staff Development Fund allows staff members to add to their skills and overcome what is sometimes a big financial investment in their professional development,” Johnson says. “I learned many things that enhanced my job performance and motivated me to continually improve my work.

As a certified Young Adult Library Services Association “Serving the Underserved” trainer, Johnson has the skills to train community library staff members in the best practices for serving teens' library needs. At the conference, she particularly enjoyed a session on how libraries can continually adapt to fit the learning and research styles of all generations.

“I can honestly say that what I learn in school I use in my job, and vice versa,” Johnson explains. “It's empowering.”

Visit the Curriculum Materials Library site.