Over a career spanning nearly four decades, I have served as a school librarian, a branch manager of a public library, and have worked in community college and university libraries. For more than 25 of those years, I was responsible for developing collections for young children. I am the author of the book, Building a Core Print Collection for Preschoolers, and consider serving on the Randolph Caldecott Award Committee and the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Jury two of my career highlights. I have been an active member of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee for 17 years and served as the committee's Chair from 2019-2020. A native of Washington, NC, I received my undergraduate degree from East Carolina University (ECU) and advanced degrees from East Carolina University and North Carolina Central University. From 2014-2021, I served as Department Head of Joyner Library’s Teaching Resources Center (ECU). Upon my retirement in January 2022, I was appointed Professor Emeritus and currently serve as an adjunct Teaching Professor for ECU’s Master of Library Science Program.