Cambrian Library’s Volunteer Spotlight: Elizabeth Yoshida!

Picture Books Author Display volunteer Elizabeth is Cambrian Library's Volunteer Spotlight of the Year.

Dedicated and hard-working, Elizabeth comes in every week to ensure that our picture book collection is always in circulation!  She selects authors with a high volume of titles to be displayed so that San Jose Public Library's picture book collection is equitably distributed between all of the branches.

Sometimes, a Library's picture book collection may become unbalanced when too many of the same titles are returned to one location.  By displaying authors on Cambrian Library's Picture Book Author Gondola, patrons will pick up authors or picture books that might otherwise languish on our shelves, spine out.  When picture books are displayed with their covers out, patrons are more likely to notice a picture book that might be of interest to them.

Elizabeth's Volunteer Work

Elizabeth is a Picture Books Author Display Volunteer as follows:

• Elizabeth had been a volunteer picture book shelver for many years.  A self-starter, Elizabeth shifted picture books around to ensure that shelves were balanced.
• Cambrian Library has one of the most used picture book collections in the Library System.  As such, the Library sometimes has so many library returns of a particular author that an inequity is created.
• Recognized for her diligence and dedication to the Library, Elizabeth was asked to work on a special project:  displaying those authors with an abundance of titles!
• Elizabeth uses a prepared author list or visually scans the picture books shelves for popular authors.
• Each week, Elizabeth pulls the popular authors from the shelves and displays titles on a gondola dedicated to popular authors.

Elizabeth's Impact at Cambrian Library

Elizabeth's volunteer work merits special recognition because she is detail-oriented, dedicated, and a hard worker.  She has a unique volunteer role in the Library and she shines at her work. 

Her displays are so popular, Library Manager Chieu Nguyen has commented upon the empty acrylics after customers have checked out the picture books from her displays!

Elizabeth is reliable and dependable and her absences are sorely missed!

Let's get to know a little bit about Elizabeth.

A Chat With Elizabeth

• As a child, I rode my bike around my San Jose neighborhood.
• My first job was making sandwiches at Togo’s.
• I am most proud of my family.
• My biggest challenge is staying in the moment. 
• My community is at home, at the school where I teach, and in the stands watching my sons games. 
• Libraries are a place where all are welcome to the opportunities to learn, engage, and participate. 
• If I had a superpower, it would be time travel so that I could relive all of the events I can’t remember. 
• I volunteer to connect with others and enjoy the peacefulness of the library. 
• If I weren't volunteering, I'd be drinking coffee, reading a book, sitting on the beach, messing around with personal finance, and/or eating chocolate.