Skye-Ephifanie Patrick is an American librarian, named Library Journal's Librarian of the Year in 2019. She has been Library Director of the Los Angeles County library system since February 2016 and was its first African American director. She oversees the county's 87 libraries which serve 3.5 million people with an annual operating budget of over $200 million. Under Patrick's leadership the library started a fines-forgiveness program where patrons under 21 can "read away" their late fees, resulting in 13,000 previously blocked accounts being reinstated. The library also rolled out ten "Maker mobiles" and five early literacy mobiles and opened a full-service library at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, partnering with the Los Angeles County Probation Department. Prior to working for the LA County library system, Patrick was the Director of Libraries for

Broward County, Florida Broward County ( , ) is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with over 1.94 m ...

where she was the second African American, the first openly

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

person, and first woman to hold the position. Before that she was Assistant Director of the

Queens Public Library The Queens Public Library (QPL), also known as the Queens Borough Public Library and Queens Library (QL), is the public library for the Borough (New York City), borough of Queens, and one of three public library systems serving New York City. It ...

. Patrick was the recipient of a 2020 Stanton Fellowship from the Durfee Foundation. She serves on the executive board of the Urban Libraries Council, a position she's held since July 2017.

Early life and education

Patrick grew up in

Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, making ...

where she was partially in foster care. She worked as a library page while in high school and graduated from

Northern Michigan University Northern Michigan University (Northern Michigan, Northern or NMU) is a public university in Marquette, Michigan. It was established in 1899 by the Michigan Legislature as Northern State Normal School. In 1963, the state designated Northern a uni ...

in 1996 with a bachelor of fine arts degree. While at NMU, she helped create the Ten Percent Club which became the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersexed Student Union. Her master’s degree in library and information science is from the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

. Patrick is married to arts educator Dawn Robinson-Patrick and the two have one daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patrick, Skye Living people American librarians African-American librarians Year of birth missing (living people)