If you missed last week's newsletter we are excited about our new Meet Your Librarian series and our third featured librarian. The local public libraries on the South Shore are incredible! They provide a free place for families to connect, learn and play right within our community. They are warm, inviting, and full of life thanks largely to our fabulous children's librarians. So, we thought it would be fun to learn a little more about the people who keep the children's departments at our local libraries humming with a new column called "Meet Your Librarian". In our last article, we featured Ms. Monica Brennan at Ventress Memorial Library. This week we are excited to share Ms. Ann Lattinville, the Head of Children Services, at Scituate Town Library, located at 85 Branch Street. Here's a little more about Ms. Ann in her own words ...
What inspired/encouraged you to become a librarian? Is there one specific moment when you knew this was what you wanted to do?
Librarianship is a second career for me. After finishing college, I got a degree in Historic Preservation, but it was always in the back of my mind to return to school to get a degree in library and information science. I spent over a decade in public service working for the Massachusetts Historical Commission, but the opportunity finally arose for me to go back to school when my kids were little.
How did your childhood experience with books or libraries affect becoming a librarian?
The very first outing I ever went on after I was born was to the public library. My mother had run out of books, so she packed me up and brought me to the Mason Library in Great Barrington. My earliest memories are of story time at that wonderful library and I spent countless hours throughout my childhood selecting books to read. As a student at a rural high school, we had to travel to Pittsfield to access a larger research library and I was always fascinated by how much information was available if you knew how and where to look. I spent most of my time in my college library, studying and serving as a research assistant for a favorite professor. When my own kids were born, we spent hours reading to them and visiting libraries. So libraries have been a part of my life in one way or another for as long as I can remember.
What was your favorite book as a child?
My first-grade teacher spent the year reading the entire Chronicles of Narnia series to us out loud. Every day after lunch she'd read several chapters of one of the books and we made our way through all of them. My favorite of the series was The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. She was an amazing teacher who truly infused her classroom with a love for reading.
What is your favorite children's book, or series, now?
It's just so nearly impossible to pick these days! There are so many wonderful works being published. A novel that's been a favorite of mine for a few years now is The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. My favorite picture book right now, because I have a really silly sense of humor, is McToad Mows Tiny Island, by Tom Angleberger. I'm also a huge fan of the graphic novel called El Deafo, by Cece Bell.
Do you have a favorite children's author and why?
I have so many favorites! Cece Bell, Mac Barnett, Tedd Arnold, Adam Rubin, Todd Angleberger, Julie Morstad, Jacqueline Woodson, Judy Blume, Sharon Creech, Sherman Alexie, Kadir Nelson, Lenora Look... and so many more!
What is your favorite program at the Scituate Town Library?
One of my favorite programs at the Scituate Town Library is called Book Bunch. It's a book club for emerging readers and we always seem to have a great time. I'm constantly amazed at the connections kids make with the books, and I marvel at their observations and their ability to talk to each other about reading. I'm looking forward to holding our book groups regularly now that we are back in our beautiful new library.
What is the one program you would love to start if you had the resources for it?
If I had the resources, I'd love to have coding classes for kids.
Is there anything else we should know about you or the Scituate Town Library?
We love to help connect readers with just the right books. We work hard to create a welcoming atmosphere and hope that people will feel free to ask for assistance from us anytime! We hope that people will come in and enjoy their beautiful new library, whether they're attending a library program or just coming in to sit and read or to play a game or do a puzzle. The library is for everyone!
Macaroni Kid South Shore Boston is a free weekly newsletter and website focused on fun family events and information in 13 towns on Boston's South Shore. We gather together all kinds of local family events and activities each week and add useful information about classes, family-focused businesses, book and product reviews, recipes, crafts, school and camp guides and more. We proudly serve families in Hanover, Norwell, Hingham, Cohasset, Scituate, Hull, Marshfield, Duxbury, Pembroke, Whitman, Hanson, Rockland, and Abington!
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