Amy Coquillard

Making your degree work as a parent can be a challenge, but it’s one Library School alumna Amy Coquillard has met.

Coquillard, a 2000 graduate of the School of Library and Information Science’s master’s program, is an independent senior supervisor for Usborne Books at Home, a leading publisher of educational children’s books.

The job is helping Coquillard gain experience in sales and management. She specializes in selling books to schools and libraries, and she supervises other sales consultants for Usborne.

Family responsibilities helped lead the Columbia resident to Usborne in 2002.

“This is a job that enables me to work in the world of library media with a schedule that I can control,” she said.

Coquillard said she wanted a job that not only would let her use her education and explore her interests, but also allow her to be the wife and mother she wants to be. She and her husband have two children, ages 5 and 7.

The choice has paid off. Coquillard’s work earned her three awards this year at Usborne’s national convention. She was second in the nation for sales to schools and libraries and fifth for overall supervisor sales, and she received the Legacy Award for selling more than $100,000 worth of books since joining the company. She also was one of The State newspaper’s “20 Under 40 to Watch” this year.

Coquillard credits much of her success to the networking she has been able to do through contacts made at USC and the School of Library and Information Science.

“That is the value of the school experience – meeting so many people and using those connections to move ahead professionally,” she said.

If you have an alumni story you would like to share, please contact Elaine Taylor at etaylor@sc.edu.