Jones, Jami Lynn 1951–

(Jami Biles Jones)

PERSONAL: Born December 14, 1951, in Dayton, OH; daughter of Martin Broomall (a nuclear engineer) and Lee (a homemaker; maiden name, Kennedy) Biles; married John W. Jones (a librarian), April 3, 1993 (died June 10, 2004); children: Joshua. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Mills College, B.A., 1970; University of Maryland, M.L.S., 1974; Nova Southeastern, Ph.D., 1994. Religion: Protestant.

ADDRESSES: Home—202 Berkshire Rd., Greenville, NC 27858. Office—Department of Library Science, Joyner 1106, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858. E-mail—jami@askdrjami.org; jonesj@mail.ecu.edu.

CAREER: Pennsville Public Library, Pennsville, NJ, director, 1983–87; high school media specialist in Middletown, DE, 1987–91; Arizona State Library, Phoenix, consultant, 1991–92; Sampson County Public Library, Clinton, NC, director, 1992–93; media specialist for public school district of Naples, FL, 1994–2004; East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, assistant professor, 2004–. Presenter of workshops on resiliency and teen issues. Originator of the Amanda Award, Florida Association of Media in Education.

MEMBER: American Library Association, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Florida Association of Media in Education, North Carolina Library Association, North Carolina School Media Association.

WRITINGS:

UNDER NAME JAMI BILES JONES

Helping Teens Cope: Resources for School Library Media Specialists and Other Youth Workers, Linworth Publishing (Worthington, OH), 2003.

Resiliency, Franklin Watts (New York, NY), 2006.

Author of "Teen Talk," a column in School Library Journal, 2004–05; Contributor to periodicals, including Newsweek.

WORK IN PROGRESS: The Power of Media Specialists to Raise Academic Achievement and Strengthen At-Risk Youth, for Linworth Publishing; a work of fiction, expected, 2008.

SIDELIGHTS: Jami Lynn Jones told CA: "I was not born a writer, and I certainly did not set out to become one, but when my son's girlfriend died, my first response was to pick up a pen and commit my thoughts and grief to paper. Since Amanda's death in 2001, I have spent hours reading about, talking to, and observing teems in hopes that my writing will speak to two groups: adolescents who are growing up in a society that is not teen-friendly and adults who allow this situation to exist. I do not think of myself as a writer, but rather as an advocate for teens whose philosophy is best summed up by the late great English essayist and social commentator J.B. Priestly, who wrote that 'society gets the teenagers it deserves.'

"When I started advocating for teens, I was living in Florida. I became more and more disturbed by the actions of some retirees who firmly believed that because they had raised their own children, their social responsibility to educate and support youth had been fulfilled. Since then I have read that as the population ages and baby-boomers retire, much of America will have Florida's demographics. If this comes to pass, it does not bode well for teens. What are my writing goals? I want to motivate teens to petition for the support they need. I want to influence adults to embrace youth. I want to one day live in a society that has the teens it deserves."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

School Library Journal, May, 2004, Dana McDougald, review of Helping Teens Cope: Resources for School Library Media Specialists and Other Youth Workers, p. 181.

ONLINE

Ask Dr. Jami Web site, http://askdrjami.org (November 24, 2005).