TOW N TOP I C S
@ the library
LIBRARY PODCAST Mt. Lebanon Public Li-
brary has launched a monthly podcast with a
pretty clever title.

Shelf Motivated is a collaborative effort
among librarians Eric Meisberger, Sarah Mc-
Gowan, Jeremy White, and Sharon Bruni. Bruni,
Meisberger and McGowan provide the content
and White produces and edits the podcast.

During the pandemic, Bruni and McGowan
began a video series called Evening Book
Chat. When Meisberger joined the staff in
2021, with experience in podcasting and col-
lege radio, he suggested they repurpose the
Evening Book Chat into a podcast, and they
three enlisted White, who has experience in
digital editing.

“We all read a decent amount and enjoy
talking about what we have going on in our
reading lives,” said Bruni.

“We all have our distinct reading tastes,”
she added. “Eric gravitates toward cultural
histories, in particular labor history and the
punk movement interspersed here and there
with some quality cozy mysteries; Sarah
leans to the dark side of literary fiction, enjoys
works with character driven plots, and does
not shy away from the transgressive. I enjoy
well-written nature essays, a good piece of
place writing, folkloric fiction and memoirs of
lives lived on the fringes. Our tastes for works
in translation is our common ground.”
Each episode includes the librarians talking
about what they are reading that month, and
what they are looking forward to reading in
the upcoming months.

“We hope to introduce readers to titles
that might be not getting as much buzz but
are quality and worth the reading effort,”
Bruni said. “We are always reading reviews,
and have extensive to-be-read lists, so we
hope to spread a little bit of our joy in discov-
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ering some of the lesser-known and forgot-
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Recent podcasts included discussions of
Anne of Green Gables, Rent Boy, Chicago:
City on the Make and Fight Like Hell: The Un-
told Story of American Labor.

“We also plan to talk a bit of shop,” said
Bruni. “Our experience as librarians and how
it impacts our reading or how reading impacts
our work. Overall, the podcast is just an op-
portunity for us to get together and talk about
what we love; good books and libraries.”
Stream the latest episode from the li-
brary’s website, www.mtlebanonlibrary.org/
podcasts, or download it and listen later. You
can also find it on Spotify, Audible, Apple and
Google Podcasts.

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20 Mt. Lebanon Magazine | MARCH 2023
FINANCIAL PLANNING