CURRENT POSITION Library Director, Augusta County Library, Fisherville, VA DEGREE PhD, Old Dominion University, 2017; MLIS, Syracuse University, 2010 FAST FACT Dr. Brown is the first in her family to earn a bachelor’s degree. She graduated high school with 59 college credits and earned two bachelor’s degrees in three years. FOLLOW vla.org/valla-task-force Photo by Coleman Brown

Reshaping Library Leadership

“I thrive on progress,” says Dr. Jennifer Brown. “If I see a problem, I want to fix it.” Brown’s go-getter attitude has earned her such honors as Virginia Library Association 2019 Librarian of the Year and makes her “a partner and collaborator of choice for projects and initiatives,” according to nominator Clint Rudy. 

Selected to serve on the Virginia Library Leadership Academy (VALLA) Task Force, Brown’s PhD in instructional design was critical to evolving the program. “There [are] so many applications of systems design that could be used in the library world,” she says. For example, she introduced the ADDIE (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate) framework to shape the task force’s work on a new iteration of VALLA. 

“We had a couple of goals for the redesign of VALLA,” she shares. Of primary importance was the need to “select participants with leadership potential who [come] from diverse backgrounds.” Brown helped develop a new selection rubric with which to evaluate applicants. “We did not specifically ask for identities during the application process,” Brown says, “but instead asked a question related to participants’ diverse experience, how it has shaped their careers, and how they serve their communities.” 

The program refresh proved successful; VALLA 2024 received a record of 110 applications for just 22 seats. “The feedback and evaluations from the cohort members has been incredibly positive,” says Rudy. Brown’s efforts are “a model for not only other leadership academies, but also for approaching other challenges in library land and beyond.”