Lisa Bunker

Lisa Bunker, social media librarian for the Pima County Public Library, has been named one of 53 outstanding library professionals in the nation in 2012 by Library Journal.

Ms. Bunker is one of nine “tech leaders” among Library Journal’s 2012 Movers & Shakers.

She has worked seven years for the 27-branch Pima County system, the last two as social media librarian, when she developed an influential social media brand for the library, with thousands of Twitter followers and Facebook fans.

“Lisa has single-handedly turned our social media presence into a powerhouse,” says Jen Maney, virtual library manager at Pima County Public Library. “Thanks to Lisa, our library now has 21 social media accounts, a Twitter score of 71.2, and countless reciprocal connections with people in power, people on the street, and a variety of community organizations.”

“Lisa has a magical way of bringing together people and ideas,” said Amber Mathewson, library services manager.  “She uses her technological skill and knowledge of networking in combination with tremendous passion and a sense of wonder to provide individuals with the tools they need to be creative and engaged lifelong learners.”

Ms. Bunker, who works half-time for Pima County Public Library, is the director of the research library at the Tucson Museum of Art.

She is a huge Harry Potter fan and applied what she learned from observing and participating in Potter fan communities on the web to making Pima County Public Library more electronically engaging.  She has also organized several Potter-related events, including one at Hotel Congress that drew nearly 3,000 people last year.

She received her master’s degree in Information Resources and Library Science from the University of Arizona in 2001.

Ms. Bunker is the only librarian in Arizona to be selected this year. Of the 13 Arizona library professionals recognized since 2002, six work at Pima County Public Library or the University of Arizona libraries.

The 2012 Movers & Shakers are featured in the March 15^th issue of Library Journal and will be celebrated at a special luncheon in June during the American Library Association’s annual conference in Anaheim, Calif.  To see all the 2012 Movers & Shakers and find out more about Ms. Bunker, go to www.libraryjournal.com/movers2012.

In its 136^th year of publication, Library Journal is the oldest and most respected publication covering the library field.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 16th, 2012 at 1:14 pm and is filed under Pima County, Public Library, Southern Arizona, Tucson. Tags for this post: Facebook, social media, Twitter, University of Arizona. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.