Barbara Genco Joins LJ as Collection Management Editor
-- Library Journal, 7/6/2009 10:13:00 AM
Library Journal is delighted to announce that Barbara Genco has been named Editor, Collection Management, effective July 1. Genco brings with her over 25 years in collection development and management at Brooklyn Public Library, NY, with a special focus on creating and managing centralized selection models, value-added vendor relationships, and technical services process reengineering. In her new role, she will oversee all of LJ’s collection development activities from print to online, including BookSmack!, the publication’s twice-monthly e-newsletter.
“Librarians are under more pressure than ever in terms of time and making their collection dollars work for them,” said LJ editor-in-chief Francine Fialkoff. “As someone deeply enmeshed in the field who has generously shared her expertise with both librarians and vendors, Barbara can bring their dual perspective to LJ.”
LJ group publisher/VP Ron Shank noted, “I’ve known and admired Barbara for years. Her rich background will enable LJ, a leader in collection development, to further enhance its coverage and develop tools to make librarians’ jobs easier.”
Before her retirement from Brooklyn PL, Genco was Coordinator of Special Projects and Strategic Planning, leading the library’s Community Needs Assessment initiative. Her distinguished career includes a stint as president of the Association for Library Service to Children (American Library Association [ALA]) and on the Caldecott, Newbery, Boston Globe Horn Book, Theodore Seuss Geisel, Ezra Jack Keats New Authors/Illustrators, Science Books and Films, and Society of Illustrators Award juries. She currently serves on the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions’ Libraries for Children and Young Adults Standing Committee, BookExpo America’s Conference Advisory Board, and the ALA governing Council.
Genco continues to review children’s books and has authored over a dozen articles for professional journals, including “20 Maxims for Collection Building” (LJ 9/15/07) and "A Reading List for Barack—And the Rest of Us" (School Library Journal 1/09) .
In 2000, Genco was the recipient of the prestigious ALA/Public Library Association Allie Beth Martin Award, which acknowledged her "extraordinary…depth of knowledge about books and (the) distinguished ability to share that knowledge."
Genco has an MLS from Pratt Institute and a BA in English. She is a Visiting Associate Professor at Pratt Institute School of Library and Information Science.
