Pem McNerney, the Living section editor at the Courier and zip06.com, will be the featured speaker at the Essex Library Association Annual Meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 5 p.m. at the Essex Library, 33 West Street, Essex.

Before working at the Courier, McNerney was politics editor and city editor at The Hartford Courant. She has won several awards from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists, including a first-place award in 2013 for her online coverage of Superstorm Sandy while she was working for Madison Patch. She has also worked as a senior web editor in the Office of Development at Yale University.

McNerney has taught journalism at both the University of New Haven and Central Connecticut State University. She will talk about covering news on the shoreline and how the world of social media has changed reporting.

The annual meeting on Oct. 23 will also be an opportunity for people to meet the new executive director of the Essex Library, Deb Smith. She took over from longtime director Richard Conroy, who retired in July.

There will be a chance for attendees to talk informally with both Smith and McNerney at the end of the meeting.

The meeting is free and open to the public.

Annual Meeting of the Essex Library Association

The Annual Meeting of the Essex Library Association, which is free and open to the public, is on Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 5 p.m. at the library, 33 West Avenue.