The Advisory Team includes four professionals who bring a wealth of experience in school librarianship, teacher training, and K-12-university research partnerships. They are responsible for: aiding the Instructional Specialist in tailoring the GID summer institutes to the unique needs of school librarians and teachers in their respective geographical locations, serving as liaisons between Dr. Green and local school systems, and assisting with the selection of summer institute participants throughout the recruitment process.

Lisa Bakanas

Lisa Bakanas is a School Library Media Specialist at Cherokee High School in Marlton, New Jersey. After leaving a career in healthcare technology project management, she is in her fourteenth year as a high school librarian. Lisa has served on the executive board of the New Jersey Association of School Librarians (NJASL) in the roles of secretary, member at large and president. She was also the recipient of NJASL’s Villy Gandhi Leadership Training Scholarship allowing her to present her work at the Association for Educational Communication and Technology annual conference. Lisa presents annually at the NJASL Fall conference sharing her passion for digital literacy and programming for students with special needs.

Michelle Folk 

Michelle Maniaci Folk has been a school librarian at both the elementary and middle school level for over twenty years. She was the librarian at Luther Elementary when it was chosen as an outstanding school library on the 2011 AASL Vision Tour. As a member of the 2016-2017 AASL Presidential Initiative Task Force, she co-developed the annotated resource guide: “School Librarians as Learning Leaders: An Administrator’s Guide”. Along with Lucy Santos Green she co-authored the Research into Practice column in the 2018-2019 volume of School Library Connection. Michelle is currently a middle school librarian in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.

Christy James

Christy James is chair of the Information Technology Committee for the South Carolina Association of School Librarians and Library and Media Services Specialist for the Charleston County School District in Charleston, South Carolina. Her outstanding contributions to the school library profession resulted in the 2018 F. William Summers Outstanding Alumni Award presented by the School of Information Science, University of South Carolina, and most recently in her earned title of 2020 Library Journal Mover and Shaker as a professional Innovator.

Jennifer LaBoon  

Jennifer LaBoon, coordinator of library technology for the Fort Worth Independent School System in Fort Worth, Texas, has been a school library administrator for 14 years and has extensive leadership experience, including work in advocacy and in leadership training. A past-president of the Texas Library Association, Jennifer has testified before state and federal legislative committees, leading delegations to speak to legislators in Austin, Texas, and congregational representatives in Washington, D. C.