Tag Archives: children

My Life, My Library

Posted on by
Me & My Mother

My relationship with the Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library began before I was born. My mother, Susan Miller Carter, began working at the library in the 1970s. When I was born in 1985, my baby shower was attended by library staff, including the then library director, Mary McMillan. I grew up coming to the library on a more than regular basis – checking out books and videos, wandering in the staff only areas, and visiting with my favorite library employee, Jan Owens. As I entered middle school I came to the library after school with my friends and did “homework”. We mostly giggled and ate snacks, really. The library was a wonderful place for us to relax and socialize with a reasonable amount of freedom and independence.

I began working at the Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library on May 23, 2001. I was sixteen and a sophomore in high school. After school I would trek up Hobb’s hill to the library where I would begin my shift at 3:00 pm in the Children’s Room. Being a library page meant sorting and shelving returned materials, as well as tidying up the shelves. I loved my job and continued to work part-time throughout my high school and college career.

After graduating from Marian College in 2007 I began working full time in the Youth Services Department. I did programming for children of all ages – my favorite being my Bookie Boogie Woogie, a program series for toddlers. We read books, sang songs and danced along to lots of fun music – it was a blast!

In 2009 I moved to the Community Central Department, which focuses on adult programming, community outreach, advocacy and marketing for the library. This move was a big change, moving from the Children’s Room to Community Central, but I felt right at home right away. Now I get to go out into the community and let people know what their library has to offer beyond “just books”. It is a wonderful job and I love it!

~Joanna

Tales of a Library-aholic

Posted on by
Michelle Peltier

Hello all. I’m Michelle, and I’m a Library-aholic. 

I have loved coming to the library since I was young. I remember walking into the old children’s room and seeing Paula Gilmour’s smiling face at the desk. I remember the yellow and orange paint. I remember picking out Mary Poppins to watch with my grandma. The library was always a fun place when I was little.

Fast forward to 2007…I just moved back to Plainfield after an out-of-state move. I was a new mom, new wife, and moving home after being away for six years was a little scary. I began stopping by the library as often as I could because it felt familiar, even though the building, staff, and I had changed. I took comfort in knowing that I could learn something new every time I checked out a book: from trying to figure out how to raise a kid, to learning about how to deal with financial stress, to figuring out how to cook dinner without making something from a box every night.

I have been jealous of my friend Laura Brack, the PPL Tech Goddess, because of her library gig she started over 10 years ago. In October 2010, Laura informed me of a 12 hour per week job opening in Youth Services, so I jumped at the chance to interview even though I was already working 40 to 50 hours per week. I scored the position, started in November 2010, and continued to work my full time job and part time at the library until the day before I gave birth to my youngest son. After I came back to work from maternity leave, I left my full time job and took the Librarian’s Assistant position in area T. I now work primarily with the YA fiction collection.

Even though I work at the library, I still bring my kids in on my days off. I feel like it’s important to instill a respect and admiration for libraries, learning, and play. I love reading to my oldest son at bedtime, and I hope to add my youngest to our book club when he’s old enough to not chew on the books when he sees them.

And even though I’m busy with two kids under the age of four, a husband, a dog, a job, a garden, I could go on…I still make myself read every day. I think if one stops reading, one stops learning, and that’s important enough to me to keep on.

~Michelle