Ted Balcom served as Administrator of the Villa Park (IL) Public Library for 20 years before retiring in 1999. A past winner of the Public Library Association’s Allie Beth Martin Award, he has led monthly book discussions in several public libraries since 1978 and has conducted numerous workshops on leading book discussions throughout the country since the publication of his book, Book Discussions for Adults: A Leader’s Guide (American Library Association, 1992). Presently he is the Secretary and Archivist of the Adult Reading Round Table, a readers’ advisory continuing education group he helped organize in 1987, and is a guest lecturer in the graduate school library science program at Dominican University. He lives in Arlington Heights, IL with his wife, Kathy, and their two miniature poodles, Winston and Henry.
Neil Hollands is an adult services librarian at Williamsburg Regional Library in Virginia, where he specializes in readers’ advisory and collection development. He reviews books for Booklist and Library Journal, writes articles for publications such as RUSQ, and presents at state and national library conferences. A long-time advocate of book groups, he leads a successful speculative fiction group and participates in two others each month. His first book, Read On…Fantasy Fiction, was published in 2007 by Libraries Unlimited. He is at work on a second book, due in 2009, called Fellowship in a Ring: a Handbook for Fantasy and Science Fiction Book Groups.
Gary Warren Niebuhr is the Library Director for the Village of Greendale in Wisconsin. When not reading one of the 6,000 thousand private eye novels he has in his basement, he is writing books for Libraries Unlimited, watching NASCAR, gardening, taking photographs, making assemblage, or petting one of his two cats, Biakabutuka and Boginskaya. Occasionally he talks to his wife of 28 years, Denice.
MaryKate Perry received a Masters in Literature and then, once satisfied that she could find plenty of books for herself, decided she wanted to help others find some as well. After attending the UW’s iSchool she settled in Olympia, Washington with her husband and two daughters. Through her volunteer work at the Timberland Regional Library she selects materials for homebound patrons as old as 93 and at home she finds books for small people. She also hikes, swims in lakes, and bakes an abundant quantity of desserts for her book group.
Kaite Mediatore Stover writes Booklist’s “He Reads..She Reads…” column with David Wright and refuses to give up her day job as Director of Readers’ Services for Kansas City Public Library. When she’s not reading tarot cards, gardening, tap dancing, and despairing of ever redecorating her bathrooms, she’ a roadie and merch girl for her husband’s numerous bands.
Misha Stone is a Readers’ Advisory Librarian at The Seattle Public Library. When she is not reading, she is playing with her infant son or indulging her love of pop culture (i.e., watching lots of TV or blog-surfing).
Admin Rebecca Vnuk is the Editor for Reference and Collection Management here at Booklist. She is also the author of 2 Reader’s Advisory nonfiction titles for Libraries Unlimited: Read On…Women’s Fiction, and Women’s Fiction Authors: A Research Guide.
