USFWS Branch of Creative Libraries Staff

Sarah Gannon

Administration/ Collections

Branch Chief, Branch of Creative Libraries

Sarah has long been passionate about safeguarding wildlife and wild places. Her work has focused on conservation from various angles, including working with landowners to protect private land, growing state-based coalitions for the National Wildlife Federation, and managing FWS grants aimed at protecting biodiversity in Latin America. Collectively, these experiences have reinforced Sarah’s strong appreciation for a partnership based approach to conservation.

More recently, Sarah has focused on storytelling and the art of communicating science.  In 2014, Sarah joined the FWS Conservation Library team at NCTC. Together, the team strives to meet the ever-evolving science needs of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – supporting conservation in action through literature and imagery.

Sarah holds a Master of Environmental Management degree from Duke University and a B.Sc. in Biology from Georgetown College.

Some fun facts about Sarah:

• She began her career climbing pine trees to monitor red-cockaded woodpecker nests

• She is fluent in Spanish and loves Latin culture

• She is passionate about autism awareness and acceptance, and welcomes the chance to connect with others on the issue 

Deb Martin

Images/ Media

Technical Information Specialist

Deb Martin is a native of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, but has spent a significant part of her life in West Virginia. Her background is in criminal law and much of her career was spent with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, working with incident command teams and as a research field assistant. A favorite project was collecting cereal leaf beetle larvae to use as a biological control against agricultural pests. Since coming to work at NCTC, Deb has worn many hats in the KREATE Division. Starting as its secretary and a management assistant, she recently joined the staff of the Branch of Creative Libraries, where she enjoys image and video research, and working with the photographers in building the National Digital Library (NDL).

Some fun facts about Deb:

• She is a hardcore biker and a regular at the Sturgis Bike Rally. She rode her Marauder “motorcycle” to and from the annual event in South Dakota once, but has attended it on seven occasions.

• She looks forward to time spent with her three-year-old grandson, who she says is “the light of my life.”

Megan Burdi

Librarian

Megan is a self-expressed metadata nerd with a passion for helping others in their research. She has worked at libraries, museums, and archives throughout her career. Before joining the FWS Conservation Library team at NCTC, Megan was an archivist at Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art.

As Librarian, Megan strives to serve the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service community's needs by enhancing discoverability and accessibility of Library collections. Her work centers on digital asset management, cataloging, reference services, digital projects, and building connections.

Some fun facts about Megan:

• She is an avid gardener. Her favorite plants to grow are garlic, sweet peas, tomatoes, and pollinator friendly perennials.
• She enjoys road trips around her home state of West Virginia, especially visits to state parks and small towns.
• She loves to read horror, science fiction, historical fiction, and contemporary literature. Some of her favorite authors are Margaret Atwood, Octavia Butler, Michael Chabon, Stephen King, and Sarah Waters. She is also re-discovering her love for children's literature with her twins.

Catherine Blalack

Images/ Media

Fish & Wildlife Biologist

Catherine grew up in North Carolina into a hunting and fishing family that cultivated her love for wildlife and the great outdoors. Through the Service's Directorate Fellows Program she worked to improve an online tool used for endangered species and analyzing projects that impacted them. Later, she worked as a biology intern at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge doing sea turtle patrol, assisting biologists with excavating nests, and shorebird surveying.

As Fish and Wildlife Biologist within the Library, she works on both literature and imagery collections, manages library blogs and writes stories featuring scholars and photographers in our Service, creates newsletters and engages followers through social media. Her work targets outreach to FWS programs to increase awareness of library resources. 

She earned my Bachelor’s of Science in cellular/molecular biology and a minor in chemistry at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC.

Some fun facts about Catherine:

• She's adventurous and loves camping and backpacking, one summer she lived out of her backpack, went out West hitting National Parks along the way and has hiked volcanoes and glaciers in Iceland.

• She's artistic and loves to paint landscapes and wildlife in her free time.

• She enjoys being surrounded by people she loves and meeting new faces.

John Fisher

Publications Technician

John began his career with the government in 1992 and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is the only federal agency he’s ever worked for. He started in Arlington, VA, working in Research for five years under Region 8. His unit transferred to NCTC in 1997, when the campus opened, and he is one of its founding employees. John has overseen the FWS Publications Unit most of his career, providing on-demand brochures and posters to Service offices, educators, and requestors from the general public.

Now part of the Branch of Creative Libraries, John has added the responsibility of providing all interlibrary loans for agency employees who need books, journal articles, and other published materials. He enjoys this part of this job and one of the most memorable items he tracked down was also the most difficult—a dissertation from Alaska that the Service needed for a legal case.

John has earned multiple degrees: an associate of arts degree, a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, and a Master of Arts in Political Science. He is considering, someday, going back and pursuing a doctorate degree.

Some fun facts about John:

• He enjoys reading a good book, listening to music, researching family history, and watching old TV series and classic movies.

• He has many favorite actors, including Clint Eastwood and Charlton Heston. He especially enjoys Heston as “Taylor” in the Planet of the Apes, and all of Clint Eastwood’s spaghetti westerns.