What's Good?: Spotlight Interview: Regan Schwartz

Passages Academy Libraries couldn't be happier to have a new librarian on our team. Please meet Regan Schwartz, who has re-ignited Passages' library at Crossroads since September and enriches the team through her numerous contributions. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

JFS: Can you tell enews readers a little bit about your background in teaching and what you were doing last school year?

RS: Sure! I've been teaching English as a Second Language to middle schoolers for the past seven years in Queens. I have spent the last four years working exclusively to provide ESL services to students with disabilities in self-contained and inclusion settings. For the last three years I have also been working my school's library, helping to automate it and get the first RFID system in New York City's public schools up and running. It was volunteering my time there, doing readers advisory and collection development that inspired me to start my own library journey.

JFS: What is your favorite thing to read and your favorite place to read?

RS: I feel like such a librarian stereotype - but I really do read anything and everything. Right now my favorite thing to read is anything by Terry Pratchett, and my favorite place to do so is curled up in the corner of my couch, with my dog at my side and the morning light pouring over my shoulder.

JFS: What was your favorite book when you were a teenager?

RS: That is a tough question. I'd say Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block and The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck. The first for showing me this amazing, magical world full of love and whimsy. The second for introducing me to the idea of social justice. And for descriptive language so precise, I could taste the Oklahoma dirt in my suburban bedroom air.

JFS: What do you like to do for fun when you're not reading?

RS: I recently adopted a senior, half-blind dog with some severe behavioral issues. He was found on the streets of Queens right in the middle of this snowy winter and came to us with a lot of baggage. Working with him and our trainer has been my all-consuming hobby for the last few months! I also enjoy painting, and baking!