ALIA Children's and Youth Services

Nicola McGeown is an enthusiastic member of the Brisbane City Council Libraries team. Her passions include Children’s / YA literacy, programs and advocacy.

She created the 'Picture Book' book club to celebrate the awesomeness of picture books and facilitates a twitter chat each month. The monthly picture book celebrations feature a guest author or illustrator. The club and all the info can be found on Twitter and Instagram @picturebookbc.

Nicola is the convenor of the ALIA Children’s and Youth Services Group and the proud recipient of the 2017 Queensland Library Achiever of the Year Award. This was awarded for her dedication to promoting and advocating for children’s literacy. She was also awarded a ceremonial silver pin from ALIA in 2022 to commemorate her contributions to ALIA over the past 5 years.

Say hello to Nicola on twitter at @Ms_NicolaMarie and @mybookburrow.

Claire has been children’s librarian for over 15 years. She shares her passion for quality Australian Children’s literature as an executive committee member of the International Board of Books on young People ( IBBY) Australia and through the Children’s Book Council Australia in New South Wales. Recently elected to the libraries for Children and Young Adult Section committee she liaises with children’s librarians across the world including the School librarians’ section. Attending conferences in Europe since 2009 she has delivered papers at four international conferences on topics including depression, difference and indigenous environments.

Claire co-ordinated & presented the Australian World Through Picture Books List for The International Federation of Library Associations and initiated the popular travelling Jeans Genies project adopted by many international libraries as a Sister Library project. Working proactively Claire developed and presented many children’s early childhood literacy, holiday and YA library programs. Claire sits on the selection committee for the charity Books in Homes supporting literacy development in disadvantaged areas. Since 2010 she has continued a strong relationship with Nishikasai-Library Library in Tokyo delivering both children’s and adult English programs.

Mylee has been associated with ALIA CYS since her first professional role as a children’s librarian. These days she works with all of the public libraries in NSW as part of the Public Library Services team at the State Library of NSW.

Situated in Western Sydney, NSW, Gabby has worked as a library technician for the past several years. Working within a school environment, she has developed a love of Children’s and YA literature, reading as many books as she can to and from work each week. As the library is where she sees herself, she has decided to complete her Bachelor of Information Studies (Librarianship), then follow on by completing a Masters in Children’s literature.

Her passion for books has steadily grown over the years and can always be found with a book close by. No matter the format; paperback, eBook or audiobook, she is always reading more than one book at a time. A goal each year is to read over 100 books, with a majority of those being new release YA novels. Some of her favourite YA authors include; Jenn Bennett, Sebastian de Castell & Stephanie Garber, and Middle grade writers; Jessica Townsend, Rain Telgemeier and Rick Riordan.

Helping children and teenagers find a book that they fall in love with is what she wants to do for the rest of her career. Making connections through books and instilling the love of literature so they become lifelong readers brings no greater feeling…even better than the feeling that the first coffee of the day brings!

Rachael is a YPS librarian at a small public library in South West WA and has worked in this field for over 15 years, in various roles. In her current position of Librarian:Youth and Children, Rachael develops programs for those under 18 years old which include a book club, baby rhyme time, storytime, toddler tales, reading rewards cards, school holiday activities and more. Rachael graduated from Curtin University with a BA Librarianship and Corporate Information Management in 2013 and had previously completed the Diploma of Library Services from Central TAFE WA in 2002. Rachael aspires to assist young people to find the right book at the right time and enjoys facilitating programs that encourage a love of reading. When not in the library, Rachael likes to ride her horses, play ukulele, kayak and of course, read good books.