Who are the People in Your State Library Resource Center

Meet Jeff Korman!
Maryland Department Manager
Enoch Pratt Free Library/Maryland's State Library Resource Center




What do you do?
I am one of three SLRC Managers who serve under the Chief of SLRC and work with other SLRC subject departments. I am also the coordinator of the SLRC committee responsible for marketing services. In addition I am the everyday manager of the Maryland Department.

How did you get here?
In 1980 I came to Pratt out of library school to become the Government Reference Librarian- a special SLRC service that handles reference inquiries from Maryland state agencies. That job gave me a lot of experience with Maryland material. In 1985 I became the assistant manager of the Maryland Department; in 1997 manager of the Maryland Department and in 2002 was promoted to SLRC manager.

What’s your favorite thing about your job?
There are so many things I like to do but clearly interacting with the public and other librarians at SLRC and around the state is the most rewarding. At heart I am a reference librarian and it is an honor to be part of the wonderful staff and work with the great collections we have here. I get to do lots of public programs and Maryland related training in just about every Maryland countly library system and that allows me to meet and work with so many front line librarians. And, it benefits SLRC too! I have a lot of library contacts across the state. It is great to keep those relationships going and continue to make new friends.

What’s a book that you didn’t expect to like – but did?
A few years ago I was doing some reference work on local politics in the 1850's. Politics is not my favorite topic, but I used a new book (at that time) entitled Hanging Henry Gambrill: the violent career of Baltimore's Plug Uglies, 1854-1860 by Tracy Melton. It fascinated me and turned that mundane reference question into a real interest in life in the Civil War era. That led to interest in all kinds of related history and theories about what really went on at the time.

What is your favorite SLRC program, service, or training?
No question- public programming. I love to pull together material on an historic topic, but to come at that topic from a different or strange angle. For example, not Edgar Allan Poe's gifted writing but his mysterious death. Not John Wilkes Booth's assassination of Lincoln but the conspiracy theory that has him living until 1903. Not Maryland history, but the history of Maryland as seen by Native Americans. Not famous Marylanders, but infamous Marylanders, etc. Booth is my favorite, and one gets to meet and talk to many people with like interests when presenting these programs.

What do you do when you’re not reading?
A lot of cooking and baking, spending time with my wife and sons and talking to my dog.