A native of West Virginia, Mary Stein has lived in Baton Rouge since her college days at LSU. Before entering the world of public libraries, she worked as a special collections’ librarian at New Mexico State University, and a reference librarian at LSU.
Mary joined the East Baton Rouge Parish Library in 1984 and worked for many years in the Adult and Teen Services departments. Mary became the Library’s Assistant Director of Programs, Outreach, & Collections in 2004, which means she works with public programming, community outreach, training, public relations, collection development and materials acquisition, grants, and the Digital Library. She also serves as the “Manager” of the Main Library. Hi-lights from the last few years include presenting a TED talk at the first LSU-TEDx, being named one of BR’s Influential Women, chairing the Baton Rouge Bicentennial Committee, and participating in the design and construction of the new Main Library at Goodwood and other transformative projects. Mary also serves on the Board for Visit Baton Rouge.
I am extremely proud to have helped in the development of Prime Time Family Reading Time, One Book One Community, and seeing the Home Library Pilot Project and the Press Start, Ready Set Read! Initiative comes to fruition.