The Tutor.com Blog

As soon as we hopped off the plane in Seattle, we were ready to start talking! Discussing market trends, brainstorming new solutions for clients’ challenges and showing off our new outreach materials dominated our time at the ALA Midwinter Meeting which featured the theme The Conversation Starts Here. This past weekend kick-started many conversations that will continue well through 2013. Check out our recap of the hot topics below!

Building Stronger Communities. The recently released Pew Internet and American Life Project report, Library Services in the Digital Age found 91% of Americans age 16+ say public libraries are important to their communities. And access to the Internet for research and school projects is a big reason 16+ year olds go to the library. Libraries play a pivotal role in providing lifelong educational resources across diverse populations. From online tutoring and free classes to maker-spaces that support STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), libraries are being creative about supporting their communities. Tutor.com is finding more students continue to access live tutoring from their libraries too.  In 2012, our community of tutors completed close to a million sessions with students coming from their libraries’ websites using their computer, smartphone or tablet.

Get Back to Your Life. New for 2013, Tutor.com launched a series of fun, engaging outreach materials that encourage library patrons to get their homework/work done and then get back to their busy lives. Thanks to all the clients who gave us great feedback!  If you want to see some of our favorite outreach materials and programs check out the Tutor.com Connecting with the Community page on Pinterest.

Protecting the Freedom to Read. This year it was amazing to see so many librarians taking a stand together.  The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom declared Sunday, January 27^th, Sweater Vest Sunday at ALA Midwinter to defend the freedom to read. OIF encouraged everyone to don sweater vests for the day and discuss the importance of reporting challenges of library materials to ALA OIF. We dove right into this conversation by bringing along our very own sweater vests to wear at the Tutor.com booth and show our commitment to the freedom to read!

Now that we’re back in the office we are already thinking ahead to our next stop, ALA Annual in Chicago this June. We can’t wait to join that conversation, Transforming Our Libraries, Ourselves!

It’s show season here at Tutor.com! We’ve been on the road non-stop to see our growing number of college and university clients. Our last trip was to Philadelphia for Innovations 2012 – a show that focuses on the community college experience.

More community colleges are offering online tutoring to complement their on-campus support centers to help retain students and get them through challenging courses. With the rise of non-traditional students—who are already busy with jobs and families—convenient, around-the-clock support is becoming a necessity. Online tutoring from Tutor.com has the added benefit of being available from any mobile device including tablets. Recent surveys show that 25% of college students now rely on tablets to do their course reading.  With Tutor.com, they can easily connect to a tutor for help from their tablet too.

If you missed the show and are thinking about bringing online tutoring to your school, you’re in luck! Below are the answers to the top three questions your colleagues asked at our booth. Have more? Email us at highered@tutor.com.

•  How’s Tutor.com different from other online tutoring options available to colleges?

Tutor.com is really at the forefront of creating the most innovative solutions for colleges’ support challenges. We are the only online tutoring service that is always on-demand and 24/7 for all the subjects we offer. And, Tutor.com is leading the way when it comes to mobile solutions. Your students can connect to a tutor from Apple or Android devices – phones and tablets. We also know that offering flexible transparent pricing is what colleges need, so we deliver that too.

• What hours are the tutors available?

Our tutors are available at dawn, noon and midnight!  Whenever your students are studying, our tutors are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

• How long have you been doing business?

Tutor.com began offering high-quality online tutoring when your freshman class was in kindergarten! We’ve had over a decade to innovate, learn and create a service that gets a 97% recommend rate from millions of students.

If you want to learn more about online tutoring and student support, come see us at the APSCU 2012 Convention & Expo in Las Vegas, NV, June 20-22, at Booth #107.

What better place to kick off <3 Tutor.com than in the city of brotherly love! That’s just what we did last week while in Philadelphia, PA for the Public Library Association (PLA) Conference. It was a marathon of great conversations with librarians, handing out cell phone socks and catching up with clients. And while the busy conference created countless great memories including a scrumptious tapas feast at Continental Midtown, there were some  highlights we couldn’t stop talking about back in the New York office.

Kicking off <3 Tutor.com

We mentioned it above, and if you didn’t get a chance to stop by our booth at PLA, let’s take a minute to share the “love”.  At conferences we are thrilled when clients stop by and tell us how the students in their community “just love Tutor.com!”  Students tell us too. Over 60,000 times! That’s right. Students have left over 60,000 comments after a tutoring session that included the word “love” or the text symbol “<3”. So at PLA 2012 we kicked off our <3 Tutor.com campaign, complete with bookmarks, cell-phone socks, badge ribbons, t-shirts, banners, balloons and a cocktail reception celebrating our own <3 for libraries! Not to mention a delicious new drink that the Field House created just for our library clients called the <3 warmer.

Budget Friendly Panels

Tutor.com had the opportunity to host two excellent panels this year. The first, Creative Funding: How to Afford the Services Your Community Wants, was moderated by Tutor.com CEO George Cigale and focused on different ways three libraries provided successful programs while dealing with either moderate budget constraints or massive cutbacks. There were thought-provoking ideas all around, from partnering with local businesses to help fund programs as Cathy Deane explained Mount Prospect Public Library did, to working closely with your political representatives as Jinny Baeckler from Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library suggested.

The second panel, Engaging with Teens on a Shoestring Budget, drew a large crowd and provided excellent insight for how to utilize different platforms to generate excitement in teens while at the library. One of the coolest ideas was from Stephen Grubb of Broward County Library where they are going to paint QR codes on the sidewalk! Michele Gorman from Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and LeeAnn Anna from Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh shared how to get on teens’ level.  Their advice – don’t try to talk like a teen. Rounding out the presenters, Judy Boyce from West Baton Rouge Parish Library shared how her library kicked off their successful Live Homework Help program for teens through Tutor.com.

Find all of the handouts for the PLA 2012 panels here.

Enjoying all PLA & Philly had to Offer

We were never short of things to do in Philly.  Famous Philly Cheese Steaks hit the spot at the fantastic Reading Terminal Market right next door to the convention center where we also ran into two friends from Beauregard Parish Library. Yet, the PLA exhibit hall seemed even busier than the city itself. Talking with librarians from across the country, we were excited to share our new availability on the Boopise app , discuss our mobile solutions through our HTML5 classroom compatibility and direct clients to all the updated, ready-to-print materials on the Client Resource Center.

While we’re sad to say good bye to Philly we’re already thinking about good times ahead at PLA 2014 in Indianapolis!

Did you miss us at PLA 2012? Be sure to stop by and say hi at ALA Annual in June; visit us at booth #1280.

Check out our photo album of all the fun we had in Philadelphia on Flickr!

We were excited to kick off 2012 at ALA Midwinter this past January. It was great to catch up with clients and meet a lot of new people. One of the things that made this conference particularly fun was that it was the first ALA MW for Bob Bonocore, one of our Client Services Managers. Check out his recap of ALA MW below to find out his highlights and takeaways!

Susan, Erin Chesnutt, and Bob!

Starting with Tutor.com just under a year ago meant that this January I was able to attend my first ALA Midwinter conference. I packed up my Pennsylvanian home office and headed down to Dallas, TX to get in on all the fun. And fun it was. Between the amazing steak and service at Hoffbrau Steaks, to the Tutor.com team’s impromptu photo shoot near the City Hall bulls, Dallas was a great host city for the conference; not to mention all the fun going on inside the convention center. After kicking off the mornings with pre-show dancing to “Moves like Jagger”, it was great to spend each day connecting with clients face-to-face. Highlights included catching up with Dawn LaValle, from Fairfield Public Library in Connecticut, to chat about local news coverage of Tutor.com and its positive impact on the community. Then on Saturday, I was sure to celebrate National Hug Day with Erin Chesnutt, from Beauregard Parish Library in Louisiana.

While all my conversations in the booth varied, each one seemed to touch on one of three main points: adult users, client resources and mobile solutions. If you weren’t able to attend ALA Midwinter and stop by our booth, here’s what you might have missed:

1. Not Just for Students –Libraries are still one of the most important organizations for job seekers in their communities. I had many conversations in the booth about how libraries are addressing this challenging issue. When most people think of Tutor.com, tutoring assistance for students in K-12 comes to mind. However, we also provide adults with tutoring and other resources in our Adult Education and Career centers.  Job seekers in your community can upload their resume and work in real time with a career specialist when they use ProofPoint™ Writing Center. Our tutors also provide job search tips and best practices as well as interview preparation assistance.
2. Fresh, New and Ready to Use! –Promoting your library’s resources to the community is a necessary but time consuming task. Our clients are also our partners. We do as much as we can to provide the materials needed to help create awareness. Recently we added several new resources to the Client Resource Center and updated many others, including posters, fliers, monitor strips, bookmarks, recorded demo sessions and PowerPoints to present to educators, parents and students. Check out the new resources at www.tutor.com/clients. While you are there, take a look at our Demo Resources to view recorded sessions.
3. Tutor.com: Anywhere, Anytime – With Tutor.com’s mobile services, your patrons can use our most popular features in a mobile environment. They can connect to a live tutor, review previous sessions, upload photographs from their textbooks, store important documents in their student locker, and search thousands of resources including videos, worksheets, and practice tests.  Check out more information about Tutor.com’s mobile services in the Client Resource Center at www.tutor.com/clients.

I am so glad I had the opportunity to attend ALA Midwinter, meet so many great people, hand out our very popular cell phone socks and bright orange pens, and of course show Tutor.com in action. If you weren’t able to attend, be sure to visit us at booth #1134 at PLA in Philadelphia, PA. We can’t wait to see you there!

Check out our photo album of all the fun we had in Dallas on flickr!

Tutor.com Team Celebrates 10th Anniversary Partnering with Libraries

Our library team is home safe and sound after a wonderful few days in New Orleans for the ALA 2011 Annual Conference.  We had an amazing time meeting with clients and librarians from around the country.  We were especially thrilled to celebrate our 10 year anniversary with a piece of cake and glass of champagne with so many of you.

 When we got back and compared notes from the show, we realized that many of you had similar questions about Tutor.com’s services.  Below are the answers to read at your leisure; perhaps with a glass of champagne.

 Q: Who are your tutors?

A:  Our tutors are the best!  They’re the reason we have the highest quality and highest-rated tutoring service available.  They are certified teachers, professors, students at accredited colleges and universities as well as experts in their field.  Every tutor has completed a comprehensive application process that includes a writing sample and mock sessions.  And every tutor has passed a third-party background check.  

 Even better, our tutors genuinely enjoy what they do and that enthusiasm and love of teaching is shared with every student who uses our service.  You can check out our 2011 Annual Tutor Survey for more information.

 And yes, they are very much alive.  No robots or software here!

 Q: You offer Career Services?

A:  Yes!  We launched our  Adult Education and Career Center back in 2009 when libraries told us they needed support for the job seekers in their community.  Job seekers can connect to a live career tutor for help writing a resume, conducting a job search, preparing for an interview and much more.  We also offer local job listings by city in the Career section of our SkillsCenter as well as resume and cover letter templates, interview tips and much more. 

 Tutor.com also runs a popular Career Webinar series featuring author and career expert, Barbara Safani.  Our next Career Webinar is coming this fall.

Q: Who can get tutoring?

A:  Everyone!  Whether you have a seven year old working on spelling, a 17 year old figuring out chemistry or a 57 year old changing jobs and going back to school, we can help.  Tutor.com offers K-career services that cover more than 25 subjects including test prep, GED support and career help.

 Q: Has your pricing changed recently?

A: We offer several flexible pricing plans that best meet the needs of our clients.  If you’d like to get a price quote for your library, contact us and we’ll provide a customized quote.

 Q. Will you be developing an app for Android?

A.  Yes!  We’re working on launching Tutor.com To Go™ mobile app for Android later this year.

 Q. What’s new?

A. We’ve introduced several new features this year including:

• Tutor.com To Go™ – the only online tutoring app for libraries.  Students can connect to a tutor from their iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.
• Accounts – Personalized accounts allows students to save and review their sessions.
• Favorite Tutors – This is the #1 feature students asked for.  Now they can select and connect to favorite tutors to create a highly personalized tutoring experience.
• Student Locker – From any device, students can access their locker to store or review homework assignments, projects and even pictures.  Students can share these materials with a tutor during their session.

 What you won’t find at Tutor.com are features and services that compromise our strict policies around safety, privacy and anonymity. No open and non-moderated classroom environments that encourage at best bad behavior and at worst dangerous behavior.

 Q: How do students get Tutor.com To Go™?

A: Tutor.com To Go™, our new mobile app is available to all of our library clients’ patrons for free.  Patrons go to www.tutor.com/togo (or directly to iTunes store) and follow the instructions to download the app to their mobile device.  Students must have a Tutor.com account to use the mobile app.  An account can be created on your library’s co-brand page from any device.  Accounts also give students access to past sessions, favorite tutors and their own locker to store resources.

 Q: Where can I find bookmarks and other materials to promote my Tutor.com program?

A:  We have an entire website dedicated to helping you educate your community about your Tutor.com program.  Our Client Resource Center (CRC) includes ready-to-print, professionally designed bookmarks, flyers, posters and much more.  The CRC is password protected.  Please contact your client services manager (clientsupport@tutor.com) if you need help getting access.

 Q:  Am I eligible to use Tutor.com under the Department of Defense program? 

A:  Members of the military and their families should check http://www.tutor.com/military/eligibility to see if they are eligible for Tutor.com for U.S. Military Families.  This service is funded by the Department of Defense and free to eligible users.

Have more questions?  Drop us an email or leave a comment.

 It seems like it was just yesterday when Tutor.com was a new organization selling the first online tutoring and homework program to a group of innovative libraries. Ten years later, 83% of libraries offer some kind of online homework help program as part of their mission of lifelong learning.

Ten Years. Ten Facts.

 2001:  Our first libraries sign on and offer on demand tutoring including Boston Public Library and San Francisco Public Library - still partners with us today!

2002:  Our tutors complete 100,000 online tutoring sessions 

2003:  Network of 500 tutors working online with students

2005:  Ask A Librarian™ launches to deliver on demand reference help

2006: Kansas joins Alabama as a statewide program with Governor Kathleen Sebelius at the launch

2007:  Tutor.com becomes Mac Compatible

2008:  Service expands to 24/7 on demand help

2009:  Launch the Tutor.com Learning Suite™ with college level help and career help

2010:  Tutor.com for U.S. Military Families launches through military libraries around the world

2011:  Tutor.com To Go™ launches – the first and only online tutoring app for libraries.  We hit 6.8 million sessions  and counting!

We have been incredibly fortunate to work with some amazing librarians throughout the years. They have taught us so much about working with and serving diverse communities. We’re proud to be featured in more than 2,000 library sites across the country serving all ages –  Kindergartners through college students and job seekers too.

Watch our 10th Anniversary video to see many of the librarians, students, governors and mayors who have helped bring online, on demand learning to millions of students across the country. You can also see our old logos, our favorite smiley face costume and the different Online Classrooms where students have received help.

We hope to see many of you at ALA Annual for a cake and champagne celebration right at our booth #859 on Saturday, June 25th at 3:30 p.m. You can also check out Tutor.com To Go in the new mobile pavilion booth #816C. No matter where you see us, be sure to pick up your very own Tutor.com beads – a must-have in New Orleans!

Thanks to everyone for a great decade!

For the second year in a row, the Florida Library Association Annual Conference took place right outside of Universal Studios in sunny Orlando May 4^th through 6^th.  I had two reasons to be excited.  First, I am a new member of the Tutor.com library team and this is my first conference and chance to meet clients I’ve known only over email and phone.  Second, as of August 2010 Florida is my new home state!  So while my colleagues Susan and Krissie were flying in from Wisconsin and South Carolina respectively I was enjoying the air conditioned drive listening to one of my favorite Beatles Anthology CDs and looking forward to the conference.

I was not disappointed.  The show was a great experience and while it’s hard to summarize all the conversations and highlights, here’s my top five favorite show moments:

• PTAdventures: Our booth was right next to the performance stage and we had a lot of fun watching each group engage the audience and share their message.  My personal favorite was PTAdventures which featured a character named Paige, a “World-Famous Storyologist.”  According to the performance, a “Storyologist” travels the world collecting, telling, and writing stories.  After the performance, Paige visited our booth and told me that her performance group did a video about Tutor.com for Palm Beach County Library a few years back.  I couldn’t wait to check it out.
• Tutor.com To Go: We’re pretty excited about our new app that connects a student to a tutor right from their iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad. It was great to see our clients excited too.  My favorite mobile moment was when Carolyn from Jacksonville Public Library came over to show us she had it on her phone and had tested it out.
• Face Time: We all  spend a lot of  time on the phone and email with clients and it was a pleasure to put faces to names including long-time Tutor.com clients from Orange County, Sarasota County, and of course John Callahan III, President of FLA and Director of Palm Beach County Public Library. 
• Serving Adults: About two years ago, Tutor.com introduced the Adult Education and Career Center and we heard loud and clear from clients that this service is benefitting the adults in their communities.  Many adult patrons are going back to school and looking for jobs and need the real-time, personal support of a tutor or career tutor.
• Tutor.com for U.S. Military Families: Several libraries in FL have large military populations and they were thrilled to learn that Tutor.com is already available to many of these families as well as students attending Department of Defense schools.  The program is free to eligible military families thanks to funding from the Department of Defense.

Thanks to the Florida Library Association for a great show.  We hope to see more clients and new faces at ALA Annual in New Orleans.  Come see us at booth #859!

-  Bob Bonocore, Account Manager

What a week it has been! From warm and sunny days in San Diego to snow-covered NYC! Everyone is finally home after a great ALA MW 2011 conference. Overall, we had a crew of six Tutor team members on hand in California. There were some long time veterans (Susan Del Rosario, Tom Squillace, Sandi White and Gary Yip) and two new Tutor.com faces (Lauren Lobdell and Stephen Schrage).

Everyone had a really wonderful experience at ALA MW – meeting with clients and new friends, and working live-and-in-person with remote co-workers. Highlights included the charm of friendly San Diego Californians, the amazing Mexican food, sunset on at Mission Beach, the excitement of the convention center hall itself, and the wonderful energy of the attendees who stopped by our booth. Overall, this conference felt like there was real renewed enthusiasm among all attending.

Lauren’s first conference experience was a great one! She got to meet a bunch of clients in-person and was busy at the booth demoing our newest mobile app, Tutor.com To Go. “It was great to hear about how many clients think that this will be a valuable tool in helping their patrons bridge the digital divide.”

Holly Jin, Children’s Librarian of Skokie Public Library shared the blog post she wrote to get the word out about this new research tool for students.

Steve Schrage, our new conference go-to guy, was excited to be able to share the Tutor.com experience with our friends at Mango Languages. Carly from Mango Languages came over to the booth to try out Tutor.com for herself.  It was her first time using the service and she spent about 15 minutes with one of our expert tutors, re-learning how to do a challenging math problem.  Steve reports that “she was blown away by how easy it was and she is going back to find out if her library offers Tutor.com.”

It was wonderful hearing about all the exciting things librarians are doing for their communities. We met up with our friends from Joliet Public Library including director, Dianne Harmon, and program manager, Andrea Sowers. This year, Andrea sat on the Fabulous Films for Young Adults committee. Their theme was “Other Times, Other Places,” focused on historical, fantasy, and science fiction movies. Take a look at the list of Fab Films for YA 2011.

Tutor.com Account Executive Susan DelRosario really enjoyed attending the Sunrise Speaker Series (Kathy Reichs) with Terry from Solano County Library.

We were really proud to see that the feedback we incorporated from our Advisory boards and feedback surveys were well received. Clients really loved our mobile app, and were also impressed by the new feature improvements! Students can now select and connect to their favorite tutors again and again and even see tutors’ schedules to plan their homework and study time.

Thanks for a great time, and don’t forget to check out more of our pictures and include your own in the ALA Midwinter Flickr pool. See you in New Orleans!

Sitting in my sunny San Diego hotel room awaiting the beginning of my very first ALA MW conference, I have a lot of thoughts and questions running through my mind. I really do not know what to expect for this weekend!

I have been to other conventions, conferences, festivals and tradeshows for various industries, but never to a library event such as this and never before as an exhibitor (well unless you count my experience as a film festival volunteer). Besides being very excited to be out in beautiful and warm So-Cal city for a few days (and consequently out of cold, cold New York City), here are 5 things are I am very excited about for my first ALA:

1. Meeting up with my clients – forget email and phones, there is nothing like an in-person meeting. It will be really great to put a face with a name and library!
2. Seeing my remote co-workers – Since I started back in August, I have had the pleasure of talking with my awesome offsite co-workers almost every day, but I have yet to meet/see/interact with them in person. Can’t wait for Tom, Susan, and Sandi to arrive!
3. Attending sessions – As always, our friends at YALSA have put together a great agenda of events.  I would love suggestions as well!  As a lit and film scholar and enthusiast, I totally relish the chance to hear what library professionals have to say about my favorite subjects.
4. Sharing our brand new features – We have so many new and exciting enhancements that I can’t wait to share with our current clients and newcomers: Mobile app, student lockers, favorite tutors, and much more.
5. Meeting new people – Whether it’s hanging out with some Mango Languages staff “talking shop” or introducing new people to Tutor.com in the convention center, I love to hear other people’s stories. So far the people of San Diego have been friendly, charming, and helpful and I can’t wait to meet many more as ALA gets underway.

Please help me!  I could really use an ALA tour guide. Pass along some tips about what I should expect or do as a newbie at the conference. Also, be sure to come say hi and chat with us at booth 904!

This post is from Lauren Lobdell, Tutor.com’s newest Client Services Manager. Help Lauren out by leaving your tips in the comments section, or tweet us @tutordotcom

We had such a great time at the MCEC Annual Conference last week. We got to hear both Alma Powell and Dr. Jill Biden speak, and met SLOs, military parents, learned a lot, and got to spread the word about Tutor.com for Military Families.

Here are some of the great stories and accompanying pictures that stuck out for us this conference.

Bart Epstein and Ruth R. at MCEC

Ruth R., a Regional Navy SLO told us that  “A student said to me, ‘it’s a magical website!’”

Kara Froman and Jennifer Q. at the Tutor.com booth

Jennifer Q., a parent from Fort Irwin told us that “Tutor.com saved my daughter” and “Tutor.com is the best thing ever created!”

Kara Froman and Judy C.

The NS Mayport SLO Judy C. is an expert at telling families about Tutor.com. She says ““I remind parents that Tutor.com is a great resource during exam times – whether 9 weeks exams, final exams, or even AP or IB exams. Tell them to call me, and I’ll walk them through it!”

Last week’s Military Child Education Coalition Annual Conference left me feeling excited about all the ways there are to support military

Bart Epstein Presenting at the MCEC Expo

children and military families. During the three days, my colleague Bart Epstein and I got to hear about helpful initiatives, programs and resources for military children while we manned our Tutor.com booth.

These are the highlights:

1. National PTA has a major initiative to support military families.

2. Alma Powell misses life in the military. She keeps up by reading www.military.com and by supporting the needs of military children through America’s Promise.

3. CafeMom has an online community of military moms looking for conversation, advice and support at www.cafemom.com/military.

4. The MCEC’s Student2Student Program provides support for transitioning military students one student to another.

5. Bart bravely sampled dried seaweed wafers brought from Daegu, Korea, and liked them. No photos of the tasting are available for the public.

I’m also very excited about our new partnership with MCEC that will help military children achieve college and work place readiness. Throughout the school year, we’ll be working together to reach students to let them know about our Tutor.com for U.S. Military Families program.

Kara Froman is a Senior Account Executive and main Point of Contact for the Tutor.com for U.S. Military Families program. She has presented at conferences and events including ALA Military Librarian Workshop and Navy Certified Ombudsman Trainers Symposium.

The Tutor.com team had a great time at the American Library Association 2010 Annual Conference (ALA 2010) meeting with clients, spotting celebrities, enjoying a home-cooked meal away from home and of course having wonderful conversations about how together Tutor.com and libraries are making a difference in people’s lives. Below are the very best moments of our ALA 2010 experience.

Best Celebrity Sightings
“Mo Willems who wrote Don’t let the Pigeon Drive the Bus signing books at the Harper Collins booth. My kids love his books.”
-Julie Weintraub, Director of Client Services

“Jim Breuer, a former Saturday Night Live cast member who did his stand-up routine right next to our booth.”
-Gary Yip, Marketing Manager

“President Obama at the Polaris Booth (or was that a look alike?).”
-Sandi White, VP Sales

Best Conversations
“It was wonderful to talk with a Tutor.com raving fan Susan Stonesifer, from Howard County Library in Maryland. Susan is a longtime client and we loved getting her enthusiastic feedback about the Tutor.com Learning Suite.”
- Julie Weintraub, Director of Client Services

“Catching up with Penny Markey. Penny served for over 35 years with County of Los Angeles Public Library and during her tenure was a passionate advocate for children and teen services. We are so thankful to her for her support over the past several years and we are excited to see what rewarding opportunities she pursues in her retirement.”
-Sandi White, VP Sales

“Wonderful to hear from the Deputy Director of Queens Borough Public Library that they were awarded a 21st Century grant to support their library programs. We love to hear that libraries are getting the funding they so desperately need. “
- Tom Squillace, Sales Director

Best Meal
Our very own Bart Epstein lives right outside D.C. and invited the Tutor.com crew to a home-made crab feast. We don’t know who had more fun, our sales team or Bart’s young sons.

“ Bart’s Crabfest was certainly awesome, but it might actually lose by a razor thin margin to the dinner I had with colleagues. The food was so good that I threatened to eat the tail of my fish entrée. There were sinful desserts, and an Argentinan waiter who responded like we had turned on a switch when I casually asked about his national team’s chances in the World Cup. Capped off by a squeezed-in cab ride around the city, including a jaunt past 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue—it was truly a memorable D.C. evening.”
-Tom Squillace, Sales Director

Best Comment During a Demo
“I want to start school again now!” exclaimed a fourth grader from Louisiana after seeing a demonstration of HomeworkLouisiana a new statewide program funded through a broadband grant and powered by Tutor.com. She was visiting with her sister and their librarian mom.

What was your best ALA 2010 moment?