CURRENT POSITION High School Librarian, Royal Oak High School, MI DEGREE MLIS, Wayne State University, Detroit, 2007 FAST FACT Hermon’s podcast is downloaded in all 50 U.S. states and 125 countries. It is currently in its fourth season, with more than 170 episodes. FOLLOW @LMS_United; schoollibrariansunited.libsyn.com Photo by Andrea VanBecelaere

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When Amy Hermon transitioned from being a history teacher to a school librarian, she found that her on-campus support network drastically dwindled. Teachers and staff were great, but there was no one with the same job available to talk to and draw inspiration from. This inspired Hermon “to create something that has the potential to help people all around the world, and then commit to creating that connection week in and week out.” In 2018, she created School Librarians United.

While she could find podcasts about education topics, none explored school librarianship. So, Hermon set out to create an intimate learning experience with her podcast. It was successful, and in the second season she expanded into interviewing guests and experts. When the pandemic hit, Hermon provided a pandemic-proof platform to disseminate information. 

When conferences were canceled in 2020, she reached out to presenters and offered them a space to share their work virtually.

Hermon has more than 170 episodes with extensive show notes that provide invaluable resources to her listeners. Her episodes have been used by library school instructors and professors in their lesson plans and serve as a reference tool to guide listeners to the experts and advice they seek. Hermon notes, “podcasts are a way we can support one another, [they] offer very targeted help” and create a professional learning network for librarians who are often a team of one.