This episode finds us speaking with Jane Cowell, Chief Executive Officer of the Yarra Plenty Library in Melbourne, Victoria State, Australia. We speak to Jane about her long career in the library world and during the time when Victoria was the hardest affected state in the nation, how the staff at Yarra Plenty reached out to those people who needed it the most (seniors and other vulnerable populations). They were even featured in an article in The Guardian! Jane also discussed curating activity guides using e-resources, a “Stay @ Home” film festival, a Covid-19 storytelling event and planning a risk guide. This interview was recorded in September of 2020 (sorry for the delay) and Victoria and most all of Australia have since beaten down community spread, but this interview is about lessons learned and how we can all put this in our librarian “toolbox” moving forward!

Yarra Plenty Library’s webpage

Jane’s Twitter