WPL Launches New Podcast!

The Winter Park Library is proud to introduce Librarian’s Choice: A Literary Podcast.

By Mikayla Miller, Outreach Librarian 

June 12, 2023

This podcast is fully produced by the Winter Park Library, utilizing our state-of-the-art recording studio to invite listeners into literary conversations with our team. Meet our Librarian's Choice hosts, librarians, Rachel Simmons, Jeremy Zorn, Anne Simpson, and Mikayla Miller.

Rachel Simmons is the Winter Park Library Archivist; she has a bachelor's degree in History and Anthropology and a master's in Library and Information Science from the University of Alabama (Roll Tide!). She enjoys cooking, crocheting, and video gaming in her free time. Rachel's favorite genre is fantasy, and she is passionate about making history exciting and accessible to everyone.

Jeremy Zorn is a Public Services Librarian here at the Winter Park Library and may be thought of as the 'free spirit' of the podcast team. Jeremy attended New College of Florida for his undergraduate degree in Religious Studies, then moved on to Florida State University to attain his master's in Religion Ethics Philosophy. Jeremy is a talented musician, playing in multiple bands throughout the Central Florida area, and enjoys reading memoirs to understand others' journeys through their own words.

Anne Simpson is also a Public Service Librarian at the Winter Park Library. Originally from Maryland, which she claims to be the greatest state in the union. Anne achieved her undergraduate degree from the University of Delaware in 2014 and her master's in Library and Information Science from the University of Maryland before gracing us with her many talents here in Florida. She prefers to read genre fiction, romance, horror, and mystery, with anything involving dragons being her favorite.

Mikayla Miller is the Community Outreach Librarian at the Winter Park Library, working to spread library services throughout Winter Park. Mikayla received her bachelor's degree in Religion and Cultural Studies from the University of Central Florida and her master's in Library and Information Science from the University of South Florida. She loves mysteries and true crime books, lately focusing on forensics and genetic genealogy's contribution to the solving of cold case mysteries.

In each episode, one of our hosts will select a book based on their interests or specialties for the group to read. The host will then facilitate a discussion of their chosen book with the team, soliciting each librarian's thoughts and opinions on the material at hand. As we can see, each member of our team carries different accolades, hobbies, and reading preferences which will be reflected both in the diverse array of book choices and in the topic discussions for each episode. We are grateful to share our experience and perspectives with the podcast community through book-club like discussions, and we hope you enjoy both reading along and listening to our podcast.