LISA-JANE ERWIN

Lisa-Jane Erwin, M.Ed., MLIS

Lisa-Jane Erwin is a Supervisor and trusted Project Manager with the Free Library of Philadelphia. In addition to her duties as Head of the Homebound and Senior Services Department, she is the founding manager of the Library’s recently established Call Center. Throughout her years with the Library she’s worked in several non-public facing departments as well including Collection Development, Acquisitions, and Youth Services.

During library school, Lisa developed a passion for archiving which she was able to convert into an internship on Black Church archiving. That led to her overall interest in primary source documenting of African American religious and secular life. Her enthusiasm around the value of African American obituaries flows from that experience.

Prior to librarianship Lisa was in social work administration. She did an extensive amount of work involving capacity building, policy making, and program planning. Her direct service experience includes positions in employment and workforce development, aging and senior services, addiction and recovery, homelessness, nutrition and food security, teen parenting, early childhood education, and family therapy.

Lisa is also an experienced trainer and coach whose topics of interest include mental healthcare and wellness, domestic violence, employability, cultural diversity, and equity and inclusion. She leads a diversity and cultural sensitivity training for facilitators of the Free Library’s English Conversation Groups, a service to New Americans.

Along with her library degree from Drexel University, Lisa has degrees in psychology and education from Lincoln University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania, respectively.

Outside of work, Lisa-Jane Erwin enjoys spending time with her teenage son, soaking up the sun (preferably on a beach), and writing. She is the author of an afro-centric, partially utopian, youth fantasy novel about angel warfare called Aunt Sadie’s Angel.