By Tess Goldwasser
The GLBTRT liaison to the Freedom to Read Foundation, Carolyn received  the FTRF Roll of Honor in 2006. She was also a columnist for School Library Journal on teen services for eight years and current reviews books for GLBTRT. Although retired, she is involved in several ALA units and projects: the ALA Center for Civic Life, IFC Privacy Subcommittee, and RMRT. She also does civic engagement programs in libraries, and is the volunteer librarian for her local LGBT Center. She hopes to see civic engagement become more widespread in libraries.
She has been married since 1976. In 2007 her spouse transitioned from male to female. Interested in nature and photography, Carolyn is most passionate about politics and activism. She took teenagers to testify before a congressional committee on filtering and was able to bring her enthusiasm for intellectual freedom and civic engagement together in developing a deliberation guide on privacy with the IFRT. She says, “I want to see people use the First Amendment to make government responsive and our society more open and egalitarian and less prejudiced. I am amazed at how far civil rights come in my lifetime, but it sometimes seems we’ve paid for that in economic inequities.â€
If Carolyn could be an animal, she would be a squirrel, because they seem to have a lot of fun, and she likes nuts. If she could have a dinner party with 5 culturally or historically significant figures, living or dead, she would invite Mary Wollstonecraft, Jane Austen, Charles Darwin, John Smith, and William Shakespeare.
