For this week's Meet Your Librarian column we headed to Marshfield to meet the new Youth Services Librarian Ms. Kelsey. While Ms. Kelsey is new to this role, she is not new to Ventress Memorial Library having served as their Young Adult Librarian before moving to her new role. At Macaroni Kid we LOVE our local libraries. 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, without further ado here's a little more about one of the people who keep the children's departments at our local libraries humming in her own words.
Want to meet other local children's librarians? Check out our South Shore Children's Librarians Guide HERE.
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 not my first career: I was a costume designer before deciding to go back to school, and deciding to become a youth services librarian was a big decision! I decided to become a librarian because I absolutely love working with children and teens, and I wanted to create programs and services for them that I didn’t have to charge anyone money for.
How did your childhood experience with books or libraries affect becoming a librarian?
I’ve always loved libraries! As a kid, I was an avid reader, and the library kept me in a steady supply of books, plays, and cds (back when cds were popular!). My hometown library was somewhere I always felt incredibly safe and happy to visit--so turning to libraries as a second career made perfect sense.
What was your favorite book as a child?
I completely adored a certain kind of fantasy book: anything by Dianna Wynne Jones (Howl’s Moving Castle), Eva Ibbotsen (The Secret of Platform 13), or Roald Dahl. I also loved Louis Sachar’s Wayside School series. Really, I loved (and still love!) any books that looked at the world and decided that maybe it might be a bit stranger and more magical than we initially thought.
What is your favorite children's book, or series, now?
There are so many! I love the Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library chapter book series (by Chris Grabenstein)-- I think it really makes libraries and research feel as remarkable and exciting as I believe them to be. I also am completely obsessed with Shannon Hale’s Princess in Black series and Aaron Blabey’s The Bad Guys series--I love the direction that early chapter books have started going in, where they are completely funny and zany and surprising in ways that they haven’t always been. I could go on for days about all of the great books in our collection--please ask me for a recommendation if you come to the library!
Do you have a favorite children's author and why?
What a hard question! My favorite picture book author is Jon Klassen, because I think his picture books are a perfect mix of silly and thoughtful, and that his illustrations make the books accessible even to very young audiences. Some other favorite authors of chapter books and graphic novels are Victoria Jamieson, Katie O’Neill, Jacqueline Woodson, and Rick Riordan.
What is your favorite program at the Ventress Memorial Library Library?
I love all of our programs for children and teens--I’m a little biased. We have really fun, really active storytimes, a very popular Lego Club, a book club for middle-grade readers, a newly started STEAM storytime beginning this summer, and we’ll be starting up a tween interest group in the fall! For teens, we’ve got a great teen advisory board that helps to plan all of our middle/high school-aged events for the school year. There are schedules and event descriptions on our website if you’re interested in learning more!
What is the one program you would love to start if you had the resources for it?
I would love to have more giant art events for kids--the kind that are really messy and fun and extremely difficult to clean up and properly staff. I’d also love to have more “maker” programs for children and teens--part of the library being a place for research and exploration means allowing for the space and time to let patrons experiment. It’s definitely something on the horizon!
Is there anything else we should know about you or Ventress Memorial Library?
We really love our patrons here! As a library, we’ll always do our best to help you find that book or movie or community resource that you need--please never hesitate to ask for help! Also, we are directly located across from a playground (the Marshfield Kids at Play Park) so if you ever want the chance to get books or cool off after playing outside, stop by!
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