Teen Think Tank
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  • ABOUT US
  • WEEKLY DISCUSSIONS
  • WORKSHOPS
  • READERS' ADVISORY
  • WEBSITES
  • PROGRAMS
  • WEBSITES
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YOUR CART

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About Teen Think Tank
& Meet Our Team

Teen Think Tank started with three Ohio teen librarians who liked to collaborate. Rikki Unterbrink (Shelby County Libraries), Erin Gillespie (Findlay-Hancock County Public Library), and Steve Moser (Dayton Metro Library) would share ideas and help brainstorm on a regular basis. One day they realized that it would be great to get even more people sharing ideas and helping to brainstorm when needed. Teen Think Tank is what became of that conversation.  

​The team has grown since then to also include Valerie Laukhuf (Putnam County District Library), Kristin Wilson (Loudonville Public Library), Mary Beth Rogers (Dayton Metro Library), Caitlin Wichterman (Greene County Public Library),  and Rachel Rausch (Grandview Heights Public Library).

Meeting for workshops twice each year at different libraries in Ohio, the goal is for each attendee to leave with new contacts and new ideas for programs, decorations, crafts, books, and more. Each presentation throughout the day is carefully planned to keep everyone actively involved. When attending Teen Think Tank, you try the games, make the crafts, construct the decorations and see the books.

After the first Teen Think Tank meeting, a Facebook group was created to continue the conversation. Teen Think Tank was initiated in the Fall of 2013.  

​You can contact the Teen Think Tank team at the emails listed below.

Valerie Laukhuf, Registration Coordinator

Valerie Laukhuf currently works at the Putnam County District Library as the Youth Services Supervisor. Over the last 17 years Valerie has done storytime, school visits, teen advisory, and collection development for all 8 library locations, etc., etc., etc.. She has LITERALLY done it all. In her free time, Valerie spends countless hours protecting her home from the destruction of 2 teenage boys. She also enjoys long walks, historical romances, and feeding her shopping addiction. You can usually find her at a local shopping mall or clipping coupons.

Valerie can be reached at vlaukhuf@seolibraries.org
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Steve Moser, Founder, Web & Design  Coordinator

Steve Moser is the Teen Services Coordinator at Dayton Metro Library.  Before moving to this position, he was the teen librarian at Lima Public Library for 11 years where he oversaw the creation of a Teen Advisory Group and a Teen Spot Lounge.  In his current position, he ensures teen services are adequately represented throughout the library system. In his free time, Steve loves listening to audiobooks, collecting pop culture decorations for his home, Nerd Central, and taking his dog Lucy for walks.  He has an unhealthy obsession with The Big Bang Theory TV show and rereading Harry Potter books.

Steve can be reached at smoser@daytonmetrolibrary.org
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Rachel Rausch, Social Media Coordinator

Rachel Rausch works at the Grandview Heights Public Library as a Youth Services Librarian, where she does everything from toddler storytime to teen programming to collection development.  Her favorite library program is Howlin’ Halloween, an annual event during which she can force her husband and kids to dress up in ridiculous family costumes. She enjoys working with all ages but has a special place in her heart for tweens, who overrun her library every day between the hours of 3:00 and 6:00 pm.  She loves reading books across all age groups and genres, but is an all-around Harry Potter (Ravenclaw) and Star Wars (original trilogy, come on) fangirl. 

​Rachel can be reached via email at rrausch@ghpl.org
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Mary Beth Rogers, pre-con coordinator

Mary Beth Rogers currently runs teen programming at the New Lebanon branch of the Dayton Metro Library. The teens there call her their Library Mom because she tells them that they have to play nice with each other. They also never leave the teen area with fewer than four books. In her free time, Mary Beth loves to read, write, and craft.. In November you will find her furiously attempting NaNoWriMo.

Mary Beth can be reached at mrogers@daytonmetrolibrary.org
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Caitlin Wichterman, craft coordinator

Caitlin is the Head of Youth Services of the Fairborn Community Library, a location of the Greene County Public Library System. Along with managing the department, she runs a Preschool Story Time, a Rainbow Cafe (LGBTQ hangout), and a high school book club. When not at the library, you might find her dangling from the ceiling on aerial silks as part of an Aerial Troope with Femme Fatale Fitness; walking pups at SICSA Pet Adoption Center; or curled up on the couch reading or watching horror movies.

She can be reached at cwichterman@gcpl.lib.oh.us.
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Kristin Wilson, program coordinator

Kristin Wilson is the Youth Services Manager at the Loudonville Public Library. She spends her day bouncing between storytime and talking to teens about "life choices".  Teens often come to Kristin to have "real talks" about their love life, home life, and mental health. She can often be found giving talks about the gritty side of teen services


Kristin can be reached at kwilson@loudonvillelibrary.org ​
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Sarah Amazing, Branding Specialist

Sarah Amazing is the teen services supervisor at the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library and creator of zen-teen.com. She loves graphic design and creates all her own marketing, including the Teen Think Tank logo.  When she’s not at the library wrangling the teens of Warren, Ohio, she’s playing with her pup or watching Let’s Plays with her husband.

​Sarah can be reached at amazing@wtcpl.org
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Erin Gillespie, founder & Past Planner

Erin Gillespie currently works at the Findlay-Hancock County Public Library as the teen librarian.  Erin's colleagues lovingly have nicknamed her "The Idea Queen" because Erin is their go-to person when they need help developing an idea.  She excels at helping others overcome their creativity failures. She also is the Teen Think Tank agenda writing master! In her free time, Erin loves to spend time with her family and watch Downton Abbey.

Erin can be reached at gillespie@findlaylibrary.org
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Bryan Overholt, Past planner

Bryan Overholt is the Teen Librarian at Bexley Public Library. He has several nicknames, but the one that stuck was broverholt, a combination of his last name and the fact that he's a bro to everyone he meets! In his free time, he plays in a pop-punk band called "We Are the Movies", works part-time for the Columbus Blue Jackets on the cannon crew, plays beer league hockey, watches the Jackets and Red Wings as a die-hard fan, and somehow still has time to hang out with his wife and pets, mostly on the couch watching TV and movies. 

Bryan can be reached at boverholt@bexleylibrary.org
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Jason Sharp, past blogger

Jason Sharp is a Youth Services Librarian at Worthington Public Libraries that gets to work with all ages, but specializes in teen services. He’s passionate about introducing teens to the hottest new technologies and spends a little too much time outside of work keeping up with pop culture. When he’s not reading to his one-year-old daughter or playing the latest video games, he can be found scouring the web for the newest teen-friendly websites that encourage content creation rather than content consumption.

He can be reached at jsharp@worthingtonlibraries.org
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Rikki Unterbrink, Founder & Past planner

Rikki is the Youth Services Director at Shelby County Libraries. She bravely leads a team of five brilliant youth services librarians into the creative depths of deep library space. She enjoys wearing costumes even if there is barely an occasion to wear one. Rikki’s patronus is a chow chow dog – super fierce, but equally snuggly. Like her personality & nickname, Rikki likes to be ‘all over the place.’ She frequently travels the world with her handsome, nerdy husband leaving behind four adorable literary cats. 

​Rikki can be reached at rikkiu@sclmail.org
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