County hires new library director, launching new programming

After spending seven years as a teacher in Kentucky, Christina Shepherd found herself unemployed. While searching for new job, she found open arms and a new world of support in her community’s public library.

“I had a family with three small children and we must have used every program the library offered,” Shepherd said. “It was a place where my kids didn’t hear ‘no’ and I fell in love with that.”

Her children checked out books and movies and she used the library’s computers to build her resume and apply for jobs.

“It’s one of the best places to do that,” she said. “My middle son, who was very, very shy, had no qualms about talking to the librarian. It was a place that always made us feel welcome and we really appreciated that and we didn’t feel like we were any different than anyone else.”

She felt so welcome there that she ended up getting a job there. She worked there for four years and eventually went back to graduate school to study library science. After 10 years working in libraries, including most recently an assistant director position in Albany, she has been hired as Jefferson County’s new Library Director.

“There are so many people who still think a library is all about books,” Shepherd said. “I’ll ask them to come by and they’ll say, ‘Well. I don’t read.’ It’s so much more than that. We have movies and we’re getting them within a month of some of them coming out. More than anything, a library is a community hub. It’s a place where anyone can come. There is no such thing as loitering in the library. We welcome you to loiter. Come, hangout.”

She used programs that are available in local branches to help build her own resume years ago, and when she decided to go back to graduate school, she found programs at the library that helped her study for her GRE exams required for entrance.

“I hadn’t taken that kind of test since I was in school and that was kind of scary,” she said. “Learning Express has a GRE practice on there and tutorials to walk you through.”

The same program can help people who have not put together a resume build one they can be proud of.

“It asks questions like, what is your name and what is your address and then it will do all of the initial formatting for you,” Shepherd said.

With a library card, people can check out up to 50 books at a time.

“I recommend people get whatever they think they can read in two weeks,” she said.

One of the more popular items, Shepherd said, are the free passes the different library branches have to Georgia State Parks, learning centers across the state and even places like the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta.

“These aren’t things you can reserve ahead of time, but come by and see what we have available,” Shepherd said. “You can check out a pass that will allow up to three people to go to a state park for free. We have a DVD you can check out and when you return it you can get a free pass to the Atlanta Zoo. We have lots of stuff.”

The Covid pandemic shut down a lot of public events, but Shepherd said that she is working to start weekly story time programs at each of the three library branches in the county.

“Lately it has been more of a special occasion thing, but it’s something I think we should have constantly,” she said. “I know a big thing is going to be our summer reading program. That’s the library’s time to shine when the kids are out of school. I’m really looking forward to my first summer reading here in Jefferson County.”

She is also working to implement other events and programs to attract people of all ages to the local branches.

“There’s a computer game called Roblox that the kids are playing and I would like to have an afternoon where kids can come in and they can be loud and play together,” she said. “We also started a Lego challenge this month. I’m trying to do at least one thing each month that involves STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) curricula.”

She also sees a need for computer assistance classes.

“I’ve added to our website links for a typing tutorial as well as what we cause mouser-cise, where people who are not used to using a computer mouse can get practice following lines and knowing where to look for things and know how to use the arrows on the side,” she said.

The library will be offering free computer basics courses this month: on Monday, March 18 at 4 p.m. in the Louisville branch, Wednesday, March 20 at 2 p.m. in the Wrens branch and Tuesday, March 26 at noon in the Wadley branch. The course will include subjects like navigating the desktop, organizing files and folders, managing windows, saving and closing files, deleting files and what all of these terms mean.

“The first class is that kind of information that helps people get a little more comfortable with the computer,” she said. “Next will be a class about email. How to get an email account. What you should look for online. What you should avoid when you have one. There are at least six of these courses that I have ready.”

Shepherd said that she is looking to find more ways to make the local branches as helpful and inviting as the one that helped her family years ago.

The Wrens, Louisville and Wadley branches of the Jefferson County Library all open weekdays at 8:30 a.m., close for lunch between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. and are open until 5:30 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: County hires new library director, launching new programming