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Volunteer Application <br />Orange County Advisory Boards and Commissions <br />Virginia Baeckler Page 1 of 2 <br />Home Address:317 Joyce Road <br />Township of Residence: Hillsborough <br />Zone of Residence:Hillsborough ETJ <br />Ethnic Background:White <br />Gender Identity:Female <br />Phone:609-462-5978 <br />Email:baeckler@gmail.com <br />Name: Virginia Baeckler <br />Boards/Commissions applied for: <br />Hillsborough NC 27278 <br />Name Called: <br />Year of OC Residence:2013 <br />Community Activities/Organizational Memberships <br />Recently retired librarian who directed two major building campaigns. Author 4 books on <br />library management, programming and pr. Member American Library Association, <br />National Science Teachers Association, NYTimes Librarian of the Year, co founder of <br />Contact Science/University of Texas at Dallas. <br />Past Service on Orange County Advisory Boards: <br />None <br />Age Range: <br />Chapel Hill Library Advisory Board <br />Background, education and experience relevant to this board: <br />While my academic training at Cornell University was in the field of Slavic languages and <br />literature,I wandered far astray after a year of doctoral research in the Soviet Union. I became <br />a lobbyist for arts in education, which morphed into being the advocate for New Jersey Media <br />Association, working to improve political support for libraries in every school. From there, I <br />stepped into the public library world. In Plainsboro, NJ, which has a wildly diverse population, I <br />guided the library through rapid cultural revolutions, and in the space of 20 years, built two <br />libraries, moving from 1400 square feet, to 14,000 square feet to 48,000 square feet. Numbers <br />are not everything. I bring real world experience gained throughout the growth in services, <br />holdings and finance. More than that, as a recent article trumpeted: libraries are in my <br />blood! Since supporting myself in college by working in and eventually running a branch of <br />the university library system, I have been dazzled by the potential of libraries as the only public <br />institution entrusted with cradle to grave education. We are informal education at its finest. <br />For example: With the nation facing a critical shortage of scientists, and science education <br />lagging in school curricula, we launched a Science Center that boasted everything from <br />science story hours for wee children, to robotics classes utilizing corporate volunteer techies, to <br />community wide science competitions that engaged adults, teens and tots. With the advent of <br />digital education, we brought a nifty array on online services to our public--be they adult <br />investors, or kids needing help/tutoring with their homework. At the core of it all, education is <br />our supreme goal! <br />8