LIT Board of Directors

KARLAN SICK, CHAIR

Karlan graduated from the University of Kansas in 1960 with French and German majors and a teaching certificate, and attended library school at Columbia University. She has worked at libraries in Virginia and at the New York Public Library. She served on several Young Adult Library Services Association committees, including Best Books for Young Adults (twice), Outstanding Fiction for the College Bound, the Printz Award Committee, and the Alex Award Committee (twice).

After retiring from NYPL, Karlan joined LIT’s board as its president and seeks to improve library facilities for all of New York’s juvenile detainees.

JUDY FROST

Judy is from Minnesota, and received a BA in Humanities from the University of Chicago. After moving to New York she studied at NYU, where she was awarded a Master’s in Urban Planning. Much of her career has involved research and writing on government procedures, especially corruption prevention. She has also been an editor of books and articles, including fiction, memoirs and scholarly works. For the past 15 years she has worked as a volunteer on behalf of the indigenous people of southern Africa in their struggle to save their homelands and maintain their ancient cultures. In recent years, she has also volunteered as a tutor with New York City school children.

MA’LIS WENDT

Ma’lis Wendt grew up in the San Francisco East Bay area and received her BA and Masters of Library Science from the University of California, Berkeley. After graduating with her MLS she moved to New York in 1968 and worked at The New York Public Library for over thirty-five years in the Branch Library System. She started as a young adult outreach librarian and eventually became an administrator in charge of all the libraries in the Bronx for almost twenty years and the libraries in Staten Island for her last two years.

Since her retirement in 2007, Ma’lis has been very active with a variety of activities. In addition to being the Treasurer for Literacy for Incarcerated Teens, she volunteers weekly in the collection management department at the Lefferts Old Dutch Farm House Museum in Prospect Park; she still very active in the American Library Association and is currently the Past President of the new Retired Members Round Table as well as continuing to participate in accreditation visits to library schools throughout the country. She swims five days a week and visits at least one museum a week.

MARYBETH ZEMAN

Marybeth Zeman has been an educator for more than thirty years and, since 2010, has served as transitional counselor for the School Program for Incarcerated Youth at the Nassau County Correctional Center. When she built a small library and began pushing a library cart there, she became a champion for providing library services to the incarcerated. Her book, Tales of a Jailhouse Librarian: Challenging the Juvenile Justice System One Book at a Time, is testament to the transformative power of books to those in jail.

In 2007, she was awarded a Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian scholarship and earned a master’s degree in Library Science and Information Services from St. John’s University, New York, after many years in education as a high school ESL teacher, adjunct professor at Queensborough Community College, Nassau Community College and St. Joseph’s College in Brooklyn.

Presently, she has become involved with the juvenile justice community and is an advocate for the rights of the incarcerated and the formerly incarcerated.

She contributes as a blog writer for Public Libraries Online and The Chronicle for Social Change, where she posts regularly advocating for the need for outreach library services for juvenile offenders, the incarcerated and their families.

MELISSA T. SMITH

Melissa is the Head Librarian of the Grace Church School, High School Library and Information Center.  She has been a Librarian for over 20 years specializing in services for children and young adults. She previously worked as the Connecting Libraries and Schools Specialist for Teen Central at The New York Public Library and as a programming consultant for Literacy for Incarcerated Teens.  She is an active member of The American Library Association and has served on the Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature and the Great Graphic Novels for Teens Committee and is a current member of ALA’s Alex Awards Committee. Melissa is a native New Yorker and usually picks up Science Fiction or Romance for a cozy read on a Sunday.

MARY LOU DELIGIO

Mary Lou is originally from New York City, although she’s lived, worked and studied on the west coast of the U.S. and Canada. Educated bi-coastally at New York University, Seattle University and Lehman College, Mary Lou received her BS from the School of Education at NYU, and MS in Special Education-Adolescent Education from Lehman College. Recently retired after 28 years of public-school teaching as a Special Educator and Director of Education for a Non-Public school in San Diego, Mary Lou remains a substitute teacher and volunteer for the NYC Department of Education in her hometown of Rockaway Beach. All her NYC teaching experience took place within District 79, which hosts New York City’s Alternative Schools and Programs, including secure detention facilities.

Mary Lou is currently enjoying retirement living at the beach, walking along the shore, birdwatching or simply relaxing with a good book by the waves.