Contributors to Highly Recommended:
Administration Office
Central Library
East Columbia Branch
Elkridge Branch
Glenwood Branch
Miller Branch
Savage Branch
Retired Staff
| From our Administration Office | |
| Lisa Bankman Lisa has spent many happy hours in libraries since as long as she can remember. But she’s had the most fun here at Howard County Library, first as Adult Services Supervisor at Central Library’s Fiction department, where she helped launch Highly Recommended in April 2008, and now as Events and Seminars Manager. Her job complements her interest in books, authors, writing, the arts, and contemporary issues. Lisa enjoys memoir, timely topics in nonfiction, works on the writing craft and especially, thoughtful character-driven fiction. Two favorites in recent years are Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. She also treasures time spent with her family, pursuing shared interests in cooking, traveling, and watching indie films. |
 |
| Kristen Blount I have worked for the Library’s public relations department for almost seven years, mostly doing layout design, writing, editing, and a myriad of other creative tasks. I’ve been a bookworm forever, and will read just about anything including the backs of cereal boxes and shampoo bottles. Usually, though, I tend to read in the speculative fiction genre, and have grown used to being accused of reading "weird stuff." I like SF because it can discuss issues, like politics, religion, science, and relationships, without having to be faithful to ‘this’ world. Besides, dragons are cool. On another note, I’m married with two teenage children, live in Howard County, and enjoy traveling when I can. |
 |
| Vera Davies |  |
| Joe McHugh |  |
| Andrea Misner |  |
| Jacquelynn Morris Jacquelynn has been a reader of mysteries most of her life, starting at the beginning with Edgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle and discovering along the way other classic and contemporary mystery fiction. She is particularly fond of reading mysteries written by Maryland authors, but does not limit herself to one region or even one genre of mystery fiction. Jacquelynn attends mystery conventions around the U.S. and counts among her acquaintances several mystery authors, including authors from Maryland and Virginia. |
 |
| Shirley O’Neill | .jpg) |
| Mai-Leng Ong |  |
| Jean Salkeld Currently the systemwide Adult Curriculm Specialist, Jean holds a Master of Arts in Teaching and has been with Howard County Library for nineteen years. A Francophile after frequent trips to France, she began her sojourns there with a summer of study in Dijon as an undergraduate. Her favorite genres are political fiction, legal fiction, and biography. She loves to be asked about the intersecting of the many avenues in her life — the Library, community involvement, family, friends, and travel. |
 |
| Return to top of page | |
| From Central Library | |
| Angie Engles |  |
| Elizabeth Furr |  |
| Elaine Johnson |  |
| Barb Langridge | .jpg) |
| Cristina Lozare | .jpg) |
|
Tom Neary |
 |
| Eve Olsen |  |
| Jeanie Pfefferkorn |  |
| Roberta Rood | .jpg) |
| Joanne Sobieck-Lingg |  |
| Beth Tribe Beth started in the library when she was knee high to a grasshopper. 25 years later she brings, along with her love of reading, music and movies, a love of technology to her posts. She occasionally blogs here at Highly Recommended as well as on her own personal blog Tech from the Non-Techie. |
.jpg) |
|
|
|
| Return to top of page | |
| From East Columbia Branch | |
| Carmen Albuerne |  |
| Michael Dwyre Mike Dwyre has been an employee of Howard County Library for 3 years. He likes horror movies and novels and thinks music was better in the 90s. |
 |
| Aimee Zuccarini Aimee Zuccarini is an adult information specialist/instructor at the East Columbia Library and writes the book reviews for The Howard County Women’s Journal. |
 |
| Return to top of page | |
| From Elkridge Branch | |
| Phil Lord |  |
| Sarah Russo |  |
| Return to top of page | |
| From Glenwood Branch | |
| Robert Bates |  |
| Barbara Cornell |  |
| Return to top of page | |
| From Miller Branch | |
| Cynthia Cedeno |  |
| Helen Dail | |
|
Khaleel Gheba |
 |
| Michele Happel Michele has worked for the Library for 14 1/2years, 12 of them as an Information Specialist & Instructor. She prefers to read realistic fiction — books about women, relationships, friendship, etc., but she will try different genres when recommended to her by others. Reading is just one of her passions, as she tries to balance that with other interests — family, needlework projects, gardening, and working around the house. Her list of books she would like to read is growing by the hundreds, but her time spent reading is mostly bleary-eyed while working full-time, and being a full-time mother. |
 |
| Ginny Leslie Ginny has worked as a Miller Branch Information Specialist & Instructor since 2000. In another lifetime she taught English Literature and Composition at the college level and, even further back, reading and language skills in public schools. She likes memoirs, historical fiction, poetry and books on the art of writing. |
.jpg) |
| Jennifer (Johnson) Smith | .jpg) |
| Return to top of page | |
| From Savage Branch | |
| Dan Curry Dan Curry has worked with the Howard County Library since 2003, and is currently an Information Specialist & Instructor at the Savage Branch. He has a BS in Fine Arts from Towson University, plays guitar in the local rock band No Picnic, and dabbles with stained-glass windows. His preferred reads are classic novels and dense tomes of theology. He is a cat person, a huge Washington Capitals fan, is recently married, and wants to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. |
(1).jpg) |
| John Jewitt |  |
| JP Protasio JP lives and loves to learn (evidenced by her degrees in Mathematics and Speech Communication and current endeavors in graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University). She’s worked on-air for NPR, taught math, acted on stage, and gallivants on a regular basis. JP currently works as an Information Specialist and Instructor at Savage Branch. She hopes Hi Rec will encourage reluctantly readers to read, bring back old friends who’ve forgotten about the many wonderful uses of the library, and welcome new friends to the awesomeness of life-long education. JP bakes, crafts, and illustrates in her spare time. |
(1).png) |
|
Jessica Seipel has worked at the library since 2003 and is currently at the Savage Branch as an Information Specialist & Instructor. She received a BA in Cultural Anthropology from UMBC in 2008 and is currently working on her Master’s in Library and Information Science. She mostly reads graphic novels, young adult fiction, horror, and science fiction – especially anything post-apocalyptic. She’s also a big webcomic fan and gets especially excited when webcomics get published as graphic novels that the library purchases. In her spare time she crochets, crafts, plays video games (current favorites: any Legend of Zelda games, Scribblenauts, and Bioshock 2), and spends way too much time on the internet. |
 |
| Return to top of page | |
| From Retired Staff |
|
| Fritzi Newton Originally wanting to write for Rolling Stone, Fritzi Newton currently channels her passion for words into Highly Recommended. She loves both fiction and nonfiction, with the occasional young adult and children’s book thrown in for good measure. You’ll find her lugging around her camera and accompanying gear, always on alert for yet another spectacular photo opportunity! |
.jpg) |
| Return to top of page | |