Inviting Engagement with Passive Programming
Paula Willey is a children’s librarian in Baltimore, MD. She has written about children’s literature and family engagement for publications such as School Library Journal, the Baltimore Sun, Booklist, VOYA, and Baltimore’s Child and speaks on topics ranging from book illustration and trends in children’s literature to what it means when a kid is totally into truly creepy books. A member of the 2019 Michael S. Printz Committee, she is a vocal advocate for families with justice system involvement.
Andria L. Amaral has spent more than 20 years planning and developing public library programs and collections and services for students in grades 6–12, including after-school activities, summer reading contests, and innovative outreach programs targeting at-risk and incarcerated teens. She has provided professional development workshops at local and national library and education conferences, has guest lectured for MLIS students at the University of South Carolina and YA Literature students at the College of Charleston, and serves on the board of the YALLFest young adult literature festival.
Gabbi Pace is a media specialist at Sedgefield Middle School in Goose Creek, South Carolina. She graduated from Columbia College with a bachelor’s degree in secondary English education and from USC with a master’s in library science. While earning her master’s she worked as a library generalist at Charleston County Public Library’s main branch, where she assisted in the implementation of passive programming in the Teen Lounge. Now, passive programming ideals are baked into her mindset as a media specialist, and she loves finding ways to engage students when they come into Sedgefield’s library, no matter how brief their visit.
