Michelle R. Baldini

Michelle Baldini, MSLIS, has over 30 years of experience with youth services and education, and has spent half of these years at Kent State’s iSchool. Currently, Baldini is Director of the Reinberger Children’s Library Center, an internationally recognized special collection and research facility. In this role, Baldini supports scholarly research, professional training for pre-service librarians and practitioners, professional conferences and symposia related to youth, and community outreach with a focus on youth and underserved populations. Baldini has worked as a children’s librarian, writer and instructional designer for K-12 educational programs, school media specialist, high school teacher and Director of preschool education. She has worked in children’s television and is a children’s book author. Currently she serves on the Virginia Hamilton Conference Advisory Board, the Scott O’Dell Selection Committee and is Chair of the Arnold Adoff Award Committee. Her grant experience includes various roles in youth grant programming and development with her most recent role as the co-investigator for the IMLS National Leadership Grant, Project SHIELD with Dr. Katie Campana (Principal Investigator). 

Project SHIELD is in partnership with the College of Nursing with an endorsement from Kent State University’s Brain Health Institute, which serves in an advisory capacity for the project. The goal of the grant is to conduct a pilot study to explore ways that public library practitioners can partner with nurses to provide more effective support for parents and caregivers of children, 0-24 months, in the area of early brain development, learning, and health.

Baldini earned a MSLIS., specializing in children’s literature, library youth services and school library media from Long Island University and a BA in Literature/Communication and Media Studies (Magna Cum Laude) from Pace University. 

Michelle is the co-author of Unraveling (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2008), a young adult novel.

For more information about Michelle Baldini, visit her LinkedIn page or view her CV (found below).

Selected Publications

Baldini, M. (2016). Research opportunities abound at the Reinberger Children’s Library Center: A collection of special collections. School Library Connection. https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Article/2052680?terms=reinberger&topicCenterId=1945913

Baldini, M. & Martens, M. (2016, March). Out of the box and into the book: Innovative library partnerships to close the 30 million word gap. Children & Libraries, 14(1), 12-13. https://doi.org/10.5860/cal.14n1.12

Baldini, M. & Harper, M. (2008 - 2011). Making correlations [Article Series]. Knowledge Quest, 36(4, 5).

Baldini, M. & Biederman, L. (2008). Unraveling. Delacorte Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 978-0385905213.

Grants

Co-Investigator on IMLS National Leadership Grants for Libraries Planning Grant (with Dr. Katie Campana, Kent State University; and in partnership with Kent State University’s College of Nursing), for “Project SHIELD (Supporting Healthy Infant Early Learning and Development)," endorsed by the Brain Health Research Institute at Kent State University, $99,982, awarded August 2021

Awards/Achievements

• Mothers, Mentors & Muses Honoree (2013), an award granted to Kent State faculty who has served as a nurturing individual for others, a trusted counselor or role model, or who inspires creativity and academic passion in others
• Starred review (2008) in Publishers Weekly for Unravelling  (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2008)

Professional Service

• Board Member of the International Directory of Special Collections in Children's and Young Adult Literature  (2019 - Present)
• Board Member of the Virginia Hamilton Conference on Multicultural Literature for Youth (2009 - Present)
• Selection Committee Member The Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction
• Chair of the Arnold Adoff Poetry Award for New Voices Committee (2020 - Present), Board Member (2015 - 2019)
• Serves on the Marantz Picturebook Research Symposium Advisory Board (2015 - Present)

Affiliations

• American Library Association (ALA) (2006 - Present)
• Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of ALA (2006 - Present)
• Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of ALA (2008 - 2016)
• Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) (2006 - Present)
• American Association of School Librarians (AASL) (2006 - 2016)
• Ohio Educational Library Media Association (OELMA) (2006 - 2016)