About
Photo by Max Herman.
My name is Amy Koester, and I am a public librarian.
I am currently Learning Experiences Manager at Skokie Public Library, where I oversee a department of 24 staff members who develop, coordinate, and implement programs and experiential learning opportunities for all ages as well as support all information and reference services in the library. I also lead teams focused on outcomes evaluation and civic engagement initiatives at my library.
I am actively involved in ALSC; I currently serve as the ALSC Vice President/President-Elect. I’m a big believer in the sharing and support of our library community, and I’ve shared many programs and ideas at The Show Me Librarian. Major topics on which I have blogged, presented, and published include outcomes, civic engagement, STEAM, media mentorship, and developmentally appropriate programming. I also served on the editorial board for In the Library with the Lead Pipe, an open access, open peer reviewed journal on libraries and librarianship, from September 2016 to January 2020.
Amy Koester 
Thank you for all the information on The Show Me Librarian…I teach preschool in Oak Park Il and am finding out everything I can to help me develop my curriculum aroung STEAM…
I love your cupcake wars! I will use it for my Teen Council in a couple weeks!
Thank you
I started doing Early Literacy Activity Calendars for my department back in December and just saw your blog post on The Show Me Librarian. I love the idea of handing them out to families when they sign up for Summer Reading and posting them on the website! (I took the idea from my kids’ super amazing preschool teacher, and I love that another librarian was as excited to get these into the hands of families!)
Hi Amy. I love your STEAM blog, and it’s inspired me to do something similar for our Summer Reading Program families. I’m hoping that you consider imitation the highest form of flattery, because I’d love to use some of the programs you describe! Any words of wisdom for someone just starting out this kind of program? 🙂
I am a retired law school librarian, and I became aware of your advocacy work when my wife alerted me to the “Show Me Librarian” post about your Civic Lab project. Wonderful! You are smart and insightful, and I look forward to keeping up with your stuff. So … Go[sh]speed! The world needs more librarians like you.