On a September night in Atlanta, I was robbed at gunpoint by a handful of Atlanta local teens, the youngest 15 and the oldest 18. They stole my friend’s car, my phone, and my apathy towards education. The experience did not leave me empty or scared but passionate to find a way to serve every student's beaming and sometimes flickering, potential. Since then I have been on a mission to create educational programs and artistic devices that teach students the importance of life skills and pathways to success rather than mere rote memorization.

My robbery experience propelled me to use my knowledge of maker labs and art to facilitate workshops for adolescents to develop programs that revolve around making, creative technologies, and the relationship between inquiry-based projects and career development.

Connie is a Library Associate at Gottesman Libraries. She received a BA in Psychology and minor in Education, Learning, & Societies from the University of Washington. She is currently pursuing an Ed.M at Teachers College in School Psychology. Beyond work and school, Connie enjoys reading books, trying new food spots, and exploring the city.

grace handy is a Library Associate at the Gottesman Libraries, having previously worked with books at a bookstore, a high school library, and the Brooklyn Public Library. handy currently spans three boroughs, coming to Teachers College by way of Brooklyn, and learning as masters degree student at Queens College. grace graduated from Wesleyan University in 2018 with an environmental science degree and has been involved with organizing, archiving, soundscape, and bookmaking projects, currently trying to learn the bass and finish a large stack of unread books.

I was born and raised in Thailand. I grew up in a family that strictly emphasized and passed on an important set of values: generosity, honesty, integrity and kindness 

and, more importantly, the value of education because we believe that having these values helps us to improve our lives and it is an investment in our future.

In order to get a better education, I moved from my hometown, Sikiu, in the northeast (Isan), to study in Bangkok, where most of the highest quality educational institutions are located.

After my high school years, I went to Srinakharinwirot University and earned a bachelor's degree in Teaching English. I started my first career as a teacher of English at Vajiravudh College in Bangkok. After three years of teaching st...

Joseph is a library associate at Gottesman Libraries. He studies Comparative Literature at CUNY Graduate Center and teaches in the First Year Writing and Great Works of Literature program at Baruch College. When he's not in class or behind the front desk, he's probably lounging in a park, seeing live music, or gallivanting around the city with pals. An ideal weekend would definitely be a combination of all three. 

Rachel is the Assistant Research and Information Services Librarian at the Gottesman Libraries. You may have seen Rachel at the services desk. She began work with the Gottesman Libraries in the summer of 2015, and has since taken part in numerous curation projects and research guides. She has previously worked with countless members of the TC community as a Services Associate, assisting in finding materials, formulating reference queries, sharing resource recommendations, or just having a friendly chat as respite from a busy semester. Her philosophy is that there is joy in learning through collaboration, and she hopes to enact that wherever she goes.

Rachel is an MLIS candidate at Queens College with a focus on library media specialist certification. She hopes to one day work in a public school library, helping students discover the wonder of exploring information and supporting other teachers and administration in their classroom and curriculum needs. She believes ...

Tolkien on my lap and, I lie barefoot in the big fisherman’s hammock, watching the morning light trickle, loving the way the ripples in the pond play underneath the ash and weeping willow, listening to the wind in the trees. Instead of my book, I read the reflecting leaves that vary in color from the shade to the sun, ponder the years ahead, and think how lucky we are to be back in my mother’s home state so many miles from Chicago. If I cast my eyes far enough, I can just about see dragonflies shimmering above the pink and white lily pads, their fragile wings brightly, steadily beating at speeds that defy the glorious leisure of a Maine summer and sudden passing of my young father. 

It’s the beginning of August and school seems as far away as the midnight moon. My three brothers and I hook catfish for breakfast, race bullfrogs at the shore, swing like Tarzan into the leech-y watery deep, cannonball from the dock, skyrocket from construction sand, collect little bund...

Kirti Sinha is a Library Associate at Gottesman Libraries. She is currently a student in the Mental Health Counseling program at Teachers College. Prior to this, she attended Clark University, in Worcester, Massachusetts where she earned a B.A in Psychology. She also minored in Women's and Gender Studies at Clark. Having just moved to New York, in her free time she likes to explore the city and particularly enjoys taking walks in any and every park!

As a User Experience Engineer, Sabarish is helping design and develop the various digital products of the Gottesman Libraries, including the Library website, Library mobile app, PocketKnowledge, EdLab website, Rhizr, and Vialogues, among others. He is helping unify the look and design of these products to give a consistent experience for our users.

Sabarish has a Master’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction from the University of Michigan, School of Information (Ann Arbor, MI) and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science & Engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University (Bangalore, India). He has nearly twelve years of technology experience in user experience design and software development t...

Hello everyone! My name is Rania (Ron-ya), and I have the pleasure of being a Library Associate at Gottesman Libraries. I am currently a student in the MA Elementary Inclusive Education DUAL certification track. Prior to attending Teachers College, I matriculated from Cornell University where I received a BS in Human Development and minored in Education. In my free time I like to explore campus, cook, and find new places to eat around the city!

Natali Constanzo is a Library Associate at the Gottesman Libraries. Her love for books and the library began in kindergarten when she first learned how to read. She remembers evening car rides, when she held up books to the car window so that the street lights could illuminate the words on the page. Her interest in language led her to complete a Bachelors in English from Florida International University. She is currently completing the M.A. Deaf Education program at Teachers College. In her free time, she enjoys listening to audiobooks on long walks, dancing Cuban salsa and kizomba, and studying languages. She is currently reading The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein.

I am new to the world of academic libraries and I am looking forward to learning and becoming versant in library-speak. As the Manager of Operations of the Gottesman Libraries, I am responsible for budget, personnel, technology and for keeping the Gottesman Libraries a safe, healthy and thriving space.

Roshnara Kissoon is the new Reserves and Support Services Librarian at Gottesman Libraries. Before joining Gottesman Libraries, she managed the Reserve collections at the Newman Library, Baruch College, CUNY for six years.

Roshnara graduated with an MLS from Queens College, CUNY in 2021 and has a BA in English and Economics from NYU. She has also studied English at NYU’s GSAS and remains an amateur Victorian literature scholar, most recently presenting her work at the MMLA annual conference.

Lucy is a Library Associate for the Gottesman Libraries. While this is her first library position, she is now the fifth person working for a library in her family. She graduated from Fordham University with a BA in History, Spanish and Linguistics. Outside of work, Lucy likes to knit, cook, and occasionally works in costume departments for live theatre.

Carlos Hernandez is a Brooklyn native, musician, and avid reader. When he's not working at the Teachers College Library, he's likely either in the studio or on tour.

Kate is a Library Associate at the Gottesman Libraries. She graduated from New York University with a B.S. in Teaching Mathematics 7-12 and a minor in Global and Urban Education Studies. She is currently pursuing an Ed.M. in Mathematics Education at Teachers College. In her free time, Kate enjoys running, playing the flute, watching K-Dramas, and hanging out with friends.

Allen is Senior Librarian, Library Services. He provides library information sessions, at the moment via Zoom, in the past (and presumably future) in-class (and in-library) for a variety of College courses; one-on-one research consultations (virtually at present); and email and (when the library is open) in-person reference service. Allen compiles and maintains research guides specific to the College’s departments, programs, and courses; these are posted on the Learning at the Library blog on the Gottesman website. 

Allen received a BA and an MA in English literature from Cornell University, and an MS in Library Services from Columbia University. He is interested in promoting and supporting research mastery among students and researchers (a few steps beyond “information literacy”), and he finds contributing to library users’ fluency in the use of rich resources very gratifying.  

Kalliopi Mathios has a BSEd in Elementary Education from Loyola University Chicago with middle school endorsements in history and English. She taught in the Chicagoland area for four years before completing her MLIS at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2014. Before joining Gottesman Libraries as a Services Associate and later as Acquisitions and Materials Librarian, Kalli served in several roles at Brooklyn Public Library including Library Information Supervisor at the Marcy Library, MyLibraryNYC School Outreach Librarian, and as a Children's Librarian. Kalli developed an online module introducing teachers to digital archives for Brooklyn Public Library's award-winning Teacher Lab, with best practices for classroom use. She has presented at the DPLA national conference as well as the K-12 Arc...

Katie is a library associate at Teachers College and MLIS graduate student at Queens College. She's worked in education since graduating from college in 2014. First, as a 9th and 10th grade English teaching assistant and tutor in New Jersey, and then as an AmeriCorps program manager at City Year New York, an education non profit. Currently, she supports managing City Year's NYC DOE contracts. 

In her spare time, you can find her running around NYC's parks, finding new places to eat, and looking for a good book! 

Tarun is a library associate at Teachers College. He is currently pursuing his MS in Applied Statistics at Teachers College. He is from India, and have been working in education sector since graduating from college in 2017. First, as a fellow at Teach for India, then as the training lead at Million Sparks Foundation, and then as a STEM Lead at Aavishkaar, an education non profit.

Lauren J. Young is a science and tech journalist by day and a Gottesman Library Services Associate by night. She likes to write about a lot of things, but mostly covers how technology affects our health, behavior, education and culture. She attended NYU's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program and received a Master's degree in journalism. For fun, she collects comic books and browses digital library archives. You can see her writing and reporting on her portfolio and follow her on Twitter.

Well, there’s the hazy childhood memory of sitting in the back seat of the car in the library parking lot, nestled between what seemed like stacks of books as tall as me on either side. I remember sunlight and the absence of the outer layers I’d have to wear for three quarters of the year (there’s an aphorism about my corner of Central New York, “There are only two seasons: winter and the fourth of July”), so it must have been summer, and those books were probably propelling me through that year’s summer reading contest. My people hail from warmer climes, and both of my parents teach, so that may have something to do with why that sunny, impromptu book fort stands out among my earliest memories.

There’s meeting, as a fresh college grad, with some of the folks who became my longest, closest friends (also in one case, an enemy) to send books to people in prison. For the rest of our time in that building, our space overlapped with a zine library that has since spawned ...