BIO

Sarah French (she/her) is the Assistant Director of the Whitewater Public Library. She is a highly motivated and creative professional librarian who has worked in public libraries since 2017. Sarah is an integral part of her current library’s leadership team and has extensive experience with creating community through library programming, outreach, and advocacy. She holds a B.A. in Art from UW-Whitewater and an MLIS from UW-Milwaukee. She is also an instructor for the UW-Madison iSchool Continuing Education program. Sarah is committed to providing equitable and educational materials, programs and services to people of all ages, using literacy, knowledge, and curiosity as a means to create positive and meaningful library experiences.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

• Teaching Makerspace Magic – Plan and Design Your Library’s Makerspace at the UW-Madison iSchool Continuing Education program (2024-Current).

• Building Committee member for the Irvin L. Young Memorial Library's Expansion and Renovation Project (2024-2025).

• Presented "Every Child is an Artist: Process Art in the Library" at the 2023 Wisconsin Library Association Conference with Tiffany Helgerson from Monona Public Library. 

• Hosted an LGBTQ+ Teen movie night that was challenged but was not cancelled (2023)

• Developed a land acknowledgement statement and action plan to support Indigenous peoples for the Irvin L Young Memorial Library with the library board, local community, and tribal members (2022-2024)

• Revamped programming and events at the Irvin L. Young Memorial Library for youth, teen, adult, and intergenerational audiences (2022-2024)

• Completed an extensive collection development project for the Juvenile and YA collections at Community Library, Salem, WI (2021)

• Completed the Project READY: Reimagining Equity & Access for Diverse Youth curriculum (2019-2020)

• Completed a diversity audit of books used during storytime (2019-2020)

• Started a new program, Music & Movement Storytime, at the Beloit Public Library (2019)

• Attended the 2019 Youth Services Development Institute (DPI Grant)