New Pitkin County Library director options to construct on potent legacy

Longtime Pitkin County Library Director Kathy Chandler is retiring future 7 days immediately after 44 decades in the job, and Genevieve Smith was named as her substitute.

Born and raised in Carbondale, Smith started out operating at the library in 2010 and is enthusiastic to carry on Chandler’s legacy.

Aspen Community Radio’s Halle Zander spoke with Smith this 7 days about what she delivers to the job and what programs she has for the library shifting ahead.

Zander: You grew up here in the Roaring Fork Valley. What do you believe is the worth of acquiring another person neighborhood managing the demonstrate above there?

Smith: Oh, my gosh. Perfectly, I sense very lucky to have been a area due to the fact I know our neighborhood members. I can give instructions. I can advise destinations. I type of know what the group desires, and I am in a position to reply. And I truly feel like I am type of in a grassroots stage position so, you know, people feel snug coming to me.

Zander: And you labored as a trainer here in the Roaring Fork Valley in the Basalt School technique?

Smith: Yeah. So I grew up in Carbondale, and I went to Roaring Fork Large School, and then I received my undergraduate degree in secondary education with a focus on English. So I taught ninth grade English, and I taught speech, and debate and I directed theater.

Zander: Why did you transition from teaching to library sciences?

Smith: For the reason that of my English degree and my practical experience working with youth. The transition to obtaining my master’s in library science was a seriously straightforward a single for me simply because it was a large amount of the exact topic matter—my curiosity in literacy, forming relationships, working with the kids—which is how I started. And also when I was a university student teacher, I lived with the branch manager of the Carbondale Branch Library, Marilyn Murphy. And you know, just seeing her and her part was actually inspirational. So I experienced a lot of mentees in that way.

Zander: Do you think that your historical past performing with younger individuals will translate into a priority for the library? Are you interested in growing any of the youth plans that you all now give?

Smith: Yeah, that is just one of our priorities. We are expanding our story times. We’re seeking ahead to continuing our interactions with Theatre Aspen and the Aspen New music Competition, our community theater storytelling on Tuesdays, I believe, and our Tunes and Tales, which will occur yet again this summer months, which is a single of our much more well-liked occasions. And looking at the young ones in the library from zero through 12th grade brings an power and a vibrancy to the creating.

Zander: So Kathy Chandler retiring is like the conclude of an period. If I’m correct, she has been with the library for 44 many years?

Smith: Indeed, which is correct.

Zander: So what are some courses that she began or improvements that she enacted that you admire or truly want to continue on?

Smith: Oh, properly, the biggies are we are generating the Aspen Audio Festival archives streamable for new music students. Right now, we maintain the total archive in the setting up, which is a long time of tunes recordings, and we are making an attempt to make them available on-line. And she’s also truly invested in preserving the cultural heritage of Aspen, and that is an additional enthusiasm that I share with her. And we have been doing the job on digitizing all the area Aspen papers. The Aspen Daily News will be digitized soon up via the latest yr, and the Aspen Occasions through 1985, and those people will be offered on-line by way of the Colorado Historic Newspaper Job.

Zander: So what can we assume from you concerning adjustments at the library heading ahead?

Smith: Well, I feel one particular of the causes why the board selected me as their new director is due to the fact there’s not likely to be a ton of modifications correct absent. I share the similar eyesight with Kathy. We want to continue having a welcoming and wonderful developing. We want to continue developing our selection, which we’re so happy of, featuring systems for all ages. So modifications that I’m creating … not pretty lots of. We have been performing with the Redstone Inn and bringing a looking through home up to our Redstone patrons, specially for the younger households up there, bringing them kid’s books. And I am positive you’ve got listened to the rumor that we are in incredibly preliminary levels with employing an architect to start out some strategies for a Snowmass Village station.

Zander: Is there nearly anything else you’d like to add about what one of a kind values the Pitkin County Library offers the neighborhood?

Smith: I suggest, we have retired tax accountants that volunteer every spring to assistance people with their taxes. We have Rosetta Stone and Mango digital language understanding assets. We have access to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal electronic newspapers as a result of our web-site. We have tons of eBooks. When I say tons, I suggest 1000’s of eBooks and audio textbooks and streaming films, not to point out the wonderful print selection that we’ve thoroughly curated in excess of the many years. So in addition to the electronic and the print collections, we also have stitching equipment that we check out. We have 3-D printers. We have a stunning makerspace and lab. So, of course, the library can fulfill you wherever you are if you do not want to arrive into the building, if you happen to be interested in the digital assistance. It is also a desired destination. If you want to occur in and learn extra and practice with specialists, we have partnered with the Aspen Science Middle to offer you coding golf equipment, to offer child STEM lessons. I signify, we are in a posture to have these wonderful relationships with other local community nonprofits and have a excellent doing the job relationship. So that is a little something that we want to continue to keep cultivating and marketing to the group.

Zander: Genevieve, thank you so a great deal for your time now. I genuinely take pleasure in it.

Smith: Oh, thank you, Halle. It is really been a enjoyment assembly you.