Mitchell, B.J. 1931- (Betty Jo Mitchell, P.J. Pokeberry)

PERSONAL:

Born May 2, 1931, in Coin, IA; daughter of Edith McWilliams; married John Lewis Mitchell July 7, 1951 (divorced, 1963). Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Southwest Missouri State University, B.A., 1952; University of Southern California, M.S.L.S., 1967; California Coast University, M.B.A., Ph.D., 2002; also attended University of California, Los Angeles. Politics: Democrat. Religion: "Mixed." Hobbies and other interests: Music, painting, politics, "spiritual issues."

ADDRESSES:

Home—Tehachapi, CA. Office—Viewpoint Press, PMB 400, 785 Tucker Rd., Ste. G, Tehachapi, CA 93561; fax: 661-821-7515. E-mail—joie99@aol.com.

CAREER:

California State University, Northridge, assistant acquisitions librarian, 1967-69, assistant director for personnel and budget, 1969-71, associate director (dean) of libraries, 1971-81, member of board of directors of university credit union, 1978-81; Viewpoint Press, Tehachapi, CA, president, 1981—. City of Santa Monica, manager of information systems for rent control board, 1984-93. Member of board of directors, Empyrean Foundation, 1978-81, Bear Valley Springs Town Forum, 1982, Tehachapi Community Orchestra, 1998—, Tehachapi Performing Arts Center Foundation, 2003—, and Tehachapi Heritage League Foundation, 2005—.

MEMBER:

Authors Guild, Authors League of America, American Library Association, American Association of University Women, Association for Women in Computing (member of board of directors, 1987-89), Book Publicists of Southern California, Old Time Fiddlers Association (member of district board of directors, 2005—).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Citation for most humanitarian campaign of the year, Book Publicists of Southern California, 2001, for The Huckenpuck Papers: The Tale of a Family's Secret and a Young Girl's Search for Self-Esteem; Best Books 2006 National Book Award in the autobiography category, USABookNews.com, 2006, for Seeds of Violence: The Autobiography of a Subversive.

WRITINGS:

(With Norman Tanis and Jack Jaffe) Cost Analysis of Library Functions: A Total System Approach, JAI Press (Greenwich, CT), 1978.

How to See the U.S. on $12 a Day, Viewpoint Press (Tehachapi, CA), 1982.

ALMS: A Budget Based Library Management System, JAI Press (Greenwich, CT), 1983.

(Under pseudonym P.J. Pokeberry) The Secret of Hilhouse: An Adult Book for Teens (fable), Viewpoint Press (Tehachapi, CA), 1993.

(Under pseudonym P.J. Pokeberry) The Huckenpuck Papers: The Tale of a Family's Secret and a Young Girl's Search for Self-Esteem (sequel to The Secret of Hilhouse), Viewpoint Press (Tehachapi, CA), 2001.

Seeds of Violence: The Autobiography of a Subversive, Viewpoint Press (Tehachapi, CA), 2005.

Contributor to books, including Library Effectiveness: A State of the Art, American Library Association (Chicago, IL), 1980. Author of "Staff Development," a column in Special Libraries, 1975-76. Contributor to periodicals, including College and Research Libraries and Library Resources and Technical Services.

SIDELIGHTS:

B.J. Mitchell once told CA: "I began my writing career late in life. After several years in cost accounting in Missouri, and following a divorce, I moved to California and earned a master's degree in library science. At that time, there were few librarians with a background in business (particularly accounting), so immediately upon graduation I was appointed to the position of assistant director for personnel and finance at California State University, Northridge. This sparked a love of research and launched my writing career. While at the university, I developed a cost analysis program for libraries that eventually resulted in two library management books with an international distribution.

"My love of travel later led me on a ten-month trip around the United States and a book about how to travel on a shoestring. Reviewers were very positive about the value of the material presented in the book.

"The next book did not surface until several years later, and it was quite different. This book, The Secret of Hilhouse: An Adult Book for Teens, is a fable that deals with spiritual values and other issues for young people. My interest in things spiritual resulted from some thought-provoking encounters with metaphysical phenomena and a deep friendship with a warm, loving, and very ethical psychic. Added to that mix were my undergraduate degree in the sciences and discussions with another friend who was deeply involved in the scientific aspects of spiritual thought. The result was my determination to bring the scientific and spiritual worlds together through a sharing of my own experiences, as well as the thoughts and experiences of others working in this field.

"Following the publication of The Secret of Hilhouse, I began to expand the spiritual ideas from that work, which describes God in scientific terms, into a full-fledged philosophy. To date there are several related manuscripts in various stages of completion, including a nonfiction philosophical work explaining the origin and details of my spiritual philosophy; a gift book which presents the primary concepts of God found in the philosophical work, illustrated with watercolors; and a philosophical novel based on the nonfiction work.

"I believe there need be no hard and fast contradictions between science and religion. Rather, science and religion can and should be integrated in order to understand the nature of the universe and man's place in it. If that is to occur, both scientists and religionists must admit that there is much they do not know. To that end, I a philosophy about the nature of God that can be explored and discussed by both groups and by ordinary citizens as well. The idea is to give those who want to understand what they themselves believe about life and death a path to follow in order to arrive at their own personal philosophy. Sandwiched between God and the cosmos, I enjoy thoughts of writing another travel journal."