About Us

We are the few, the proud, the … CLPTeensburgh Authors!

Karen Brooks-Reese is the Teen Services Coordinator for the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh District Library Center. Basically, that means that she’s responsible for systemwide programs and initiatives like Teen Summer Reading, Teen Read Week, the Ralph Munn Creative Writing Contest and Behind the Book: Author’s Talk to Teens. Karen gets to spend a lot of time planning parties! She loves books, especially science fiction, fantasy and romance. She also loves video games, music and cats (although not necessarily all at the same time) and spend far too much time watching crime dramas on TV. Karen is a member of the Young Adult Library Services Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults Committee (she was the chair in 2009) and likes nothing better than helping teens find books they’ll adore.

Tina Zubak is really a frustrated writer and humanitarian. Her usual guise is Teen and Children’s Librarian at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – Beechview, which is good since she loves teen books and working with teens. She has one son, Chris, who was recently a teen. When she’s not reading, she hangs out with Jim, the love of her life; does crosswords; plays Scrabble; shops; and talks to her sisters on the phone and on Facebook.

Eva Mays is the Children’s and Teens’ Librarian at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh—Allegheny Branch and is a complete historical fiction nut/snob. Hobbies include playing Katamari and Wii Tennis, reading author blogs, playing soccer, watching home improvement programs, and listening to world music. She is known to knit on occasion, but cannot crochet to save her life. She has two cats who love to drive her crazy: Rousseau, named after a character on the TV show Lost, and Morwen, named after a character in the Dealing with Dragons series by Patricia C. Wrede. Eva’s goals for 2009 are to 1) watch every movie that has won the Academy Award for Best Picture and 2) read every book that has won the Newbery Medal.

Julie Helt – is the Children’s and Teen Librarian at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in Carrick. When she’s not at the library saving teens from bad books she’s at home playing with her two year old daughter and new baby boy. She believes there is nothing better than crawling into bed after a long day of being a librarian and mother and curling up with a good book. When she’s not reading, writing or playing with small children she’s eating, sleeping and wishing she had more time for yoga and the various arts and crafts projects cluttering her house.

Sara Dora - is a Teen and Children’s Librarian at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – Hazelwood. Sara adores learning new things and thinks that reading nonfiction is the fastest and easiest way to do it. She is crazy interested in environmental chemistry and toxicology, anything related to fish and their watery realms, and social and political issues. If she has to read fiction, she prefers either urban fiction or realistic fiction. When she is not at work you are most likely to find her in a cave in the woods, beside a lake, at the gym, or pedaling for dear life (due to her penchant to refuse to quit riding during storms).

Holly Anderton - is manager of the Teen space at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Main (in Oakland). She believes this is the best job ever, but once worked in an ice cream cone factory, so it’s all gravy from there. Holly likes walking her dog Lucy, finding new, fun places to go in Pittsburgh, watching The Wire, trying complicated recipes that allow her to mess up the kitchen, and defending intellectual freedom. As far as books go, she leans toward realistic, artsy fiction, but is always willing to try something new.

Joseph Wilk - CLP – Main

Tessa Barber is the recently-instituted Library Assistant and Teen Specialist at CLP-Sheraden. She has been known to use old encyclopedias to make bookshelves, but usually reads books instead of drilling holes into them. There’s a good chance that she would be collaging, knitting, or watching a horror movie if you showed up at her door. Usted puede practicar su español con ella–si Ud. tenga mucha paciencia.

LeeAnn Swensrud is the Teen Librarian at CLP – Homewood. She thinks she has the best job in the world because she gets paid to know teens and Teen Librarians, plan teen programs, talk about teen books, and take care of the teen library collection. Notice a running theme here? When she’s outside the library she digs reading (especially supernatural fiction), working on several altered art projects at once, watching Scrubs, playing video games and disc golf, nurturing her troll obsession, and singing to herself.

Lily Xu is a intern at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (Main). With her days full of books, blogs, book blogs, and banana bread, she couldn’t be happier because happy is what happens when all your dreams come true. Lily also has a few other interests that her love of alliteration didn’t allow in the previous sentence (such as: rock climbing, arts and crafts, and Frisbee), but to her nothing is better than a good book unless it’s good company, and at the library, she gets both!