Wendy Stephens

A north Alabama native, Wendy Stephens spent fifteen years as a high school librarian, first at Buckhorn High School and then at Cullman High School. In 2015, she joined the faculty of Jacksonville State University as Library Media Program Chair. She earned National Board Certification in Library Media in 2008 (and renewed in 2018), and was the first Google Certified Teacher in Alabama.

Wendy Stephens is the 2023-24 President of the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY). She is an active member of the American Library Association and its youth services divisions, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), the Assembly for Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English (ALAN), the Children’s Literature Assembly (CLA) and the Children's Literature Association (ChLA), and is a past president of both the Alabama Library Association (ALLA) and the Alabama School Library Association (ASLA).

She has received the Association for Library Service for Children’s Louise Seaman Bechtel fellowship and the Marantz fellowship from Kent State University.