Pasadena Public Library Senior Librarian Jane Gov Honored as 2022 Library Journal Mover and Shaker

Today Library Journal announced their Movers and Shakers for 2022, the people shaping the future of libraries. Pasadena Public Library’s Senior Librarian Jane Gov was honored as a 2022 Library Journal Mover and Shaker in the Community Builders category. Gov is the Branch Manager at La Pintoresca Branch Library and Senior Librarian for Teen Services.

Jane Gov believes that “to really understand what teens want, they must be involved in the planning.” This is the foundation for the Teen Volunteer and Teen Advisory Board (TAB) programs, which enhance opportunities for teens to develop their leadership skills and gain autonomy over aspects of their community. The programs’ goal is to be strategic in how the library utilizes the skills of volunteers, and to support a team that doesn’t only give advice and assist with library activities, but creates ideas and makes them happen.

The TAB vision overlaps with that of the levelUP Youth Conference, first held in 2017, where topics covered were based on feedback from the teens. These initially included college readiness, workforce development, and life skills workshops—financial literacy, cooking, and health. In recent years the focus has been on mental health and trauma-informed care, community activism, social justice, sustainability, and how to advocate using media.

This year TAB received a grant for $74,500, which will support goals that include establishing a citywide narrative on mental health, sustaining well-being education into the future, distributing Well-being Education Kits for educators and youth leaders for classes and youth groups, and developing an online course for the city’s youth internship programs. Gov is passionate about how these measures allow teens to “see public policy in action, how their ideas are being interpreted, and how the community responds to their needs. They can also see all the creative possibilities of achieving a vision.”

To read more visit https://www.libraryjournal.com/page/movers-and-shakers-2022. To learn more about Pasadena Public Library visit http://www.pasadenapubliclibrary.net.