Jo Melinson has been working in libraries for over 30 years. She started working at Country Day in 1994, and since 2007 has been the 6th – 12th grade librarian. She was the High School Literary Magazine Adviser from 2000-2021. 

The mission of the library is to foster lifelong learning, which the library team does through encouraging a love of reading as well as building a strong foundation for research. Jo collaborates often with teachers and students on research projects, trains students and faculty on the use of library resources, and has conducted Q & A sessions with guest speakers. 

She is very interested in inclusion, diversity, and equity and has served on the school’s IDEA committee since 2000 (as the founding chair from 2000-2007 and as one of the Co-chairs from 2020 to the present). She has been the High School Scholar Inclusion Co-Coordinator since 2019.

Jo is a member of the Association of Independent School Librarians (AISL) as well as Bay Area Independent School Librarians (BAISL), where she is on the High School eBook Committee. In October 2019, she was a panelist on the Education Week webinar, Activate Student Success with Database Access. She presented on Library Remodels at the 2015 BAISL annual meeting. She was also one of the subjects of the Lisa Peet article for Library Journal, “Conspiring to Educate: Working Together for Transitioning Students.” She is an International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Certified Educator and presented at the ISTE annual conference in 2020 and 2021.

Jo earned her B.A. in English with a writing concentration at La Salle University in Philadelphia. Before working at Country Day, Jo worked at Rutgers Law Library in Camden, NJ and Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science (now University of the Sciences) in Philadelphia. She also was a freelance editor and writer in Philadelphia and had a resume writing business. 

Jo loves crafting, playing ukulele, and spending time with family, especially on road trips. Her daughter attended Country Day for second through 12th grades.