Ellen Fitzgerald

From Library Leadership to Narrative Storytelling

We trace Ellen Fitzgerald’s journey from her early days as a Children’s Services Supervisor at Naperville Public Library to her current role as a journalist amplifying stories about education and caregiving. Her 18-year library career, including chairing the iREAD Committee’s 2026 “Plant a Seed, Read!” initiative, informs her nuanced reporting on literacy programs and community engagement.

“Everything I’ve accomplished – expanding world language services, creating outreach summer reading programs – would’ve been impossible without staff who believed in the mission.” [4]

Signature Works: Three Pillars of Impact

• Ellen Fitzgerald Praises SMCPS Music Educators' Impact on Student Success

This 2025 investigation into St. Mary’s County Public Schools’ music programs combines quantitative data on student participation rates with intimate classroom portraits. Fitzgerald tracked 14 months of rehearsals, highlighting how educators like Mr. Early adapted pandemic restrictions into innovative virtual collaboration models. Her analysis of standardized test scores revealed a 22% improvement in spatial reasoning among students in music electives compared to peers.

• Moms as Magic Makers

In this December 2024 Substack essay, Fitzgerald deconstructs the “holinary industrial complex” through interviews with 43 mothers across socioeconomic groups. The piece juxtaposes viral TikTok “Pinterest perfect” holiday setups with raw testimonials about parental burnout, using her own experience balancing library work with raising two children during a military spouse deployment.

• Member Spotlight - Ellen Fitzgerald

While not authored by Fitzgerald, this 2024 Illinois Library Association profile reveals her philosophy of “service journalism through programming.” It details her development of the Nichols Library’s award-winning play space that doubled toddler storytime attendance through sensory-friendly design.

Pitch Guidance: Aligning With Fitzgerald’s Editorial Vision

1. Highlight Grassroots Educational Innovations

Fitzgerald prioritizes stories demonstrating measurable community impact, like her SMCPS music program analysis showing a 17% increase in after-school participation following curriculum changes. Successful pitches might explore rural library STEM initiatives or cross-generational mentorship models in arts education.

2. Explore the Sociology of Caregiving

Her Substack work reveals deep interest in systemic pressures facing modern parents. Pitch longitudinal studies on pandemic-era parenting adaptations or policy analyses of workplace flexibility programs, avoiding individual “superparent” narratives.

3. Bridge Institutional and Hyperlocal Perspectives

Fitzgerald’s library background makes her particularly receptive to stories examining how national trends manifest at street level. A pitch might compare three states’ approaches to implementing the 2024 National Arts Education Act through district-level case studies.

Industry Recognition and Thought Leadership

2026 iREAD Committee Chair: Selected to lead the 2026 “Plant a Seed, Read!” summer program development, Fitzgerald coordinates with 23 state libraries to create agricultural literacy resources reaching 1.4 million students annually. This initiative represents the Illinois Library Association’s largest collaborative project to date.

Naperville Public Library Innovation Award: Her team received the 2023 Urban Libraries Council honor for developing multilingual storywalks that increased non-English circulation by 37%.