Welcome Margo Gustina! Margo will join STLS as the Member Services Consultant. Read on for more on Margo and how shell be serving our member libraries: New Face and Added Passion at STLS By Brian M. Hildreth, Executive Director - Southern Tier Library System Friday, December 12, 2014 I love talking about libraries and leveraging my passion for material culture into a useful tool for community growth. In my opinion, there is no better institution for furthering the cause of an engaged, informed, civil society, than public libraries. - Margo Gustina, MLS On Monday, STLS gained a new librarian. We are extremely fortunate to welcome Margo Gustina to our STLS team. Margo will serve in the Member Services Consultant position. This is a new position to STLS that will help develop member library learning opportunities, promote System services, leverage financial resources and support the good work of STLS member libraries. Some specific work Margo will be in charge of is oversight of NYS Construction Aid applications, review & compilation of member libraries annual reports, regional library advocacy, support to trustee and staff development and consultation pertaining to library budget votes. One of Margos first assignments was to meet with me, and discuss her optimism for STLS and the Member Services Consultant position. Below you will find the transcript from our interview. Interview from December 10, 2014 - STLS Executive Director Brian M. Hildreth and Member Services Consultant Margo Gustina. Brian: Margo, welcome to STLS. Is there anything you would like to share about yourself? Margo: I live in Corning with my sweetheart and our two daughters. Although I grew up in Bath, I moved to the area with my family from Little Rock in 2008. I have a passion for the artifacts of human endeavor - visual art, architecture, writing, music, film. This means favorite reads are sort of hard to pinpoint. The most recent book I read and enjoyed was How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid, Im really into the art of Anne Muntges right now, and my music taste varies widely from moment to moment. While I write this I am listening to De La Sol. Brian: How did you get involved working within libraries? Margo: I worked for bookstores in Philadelphia and Little Rock and I thought working for a library system would let me work in conservation or archives. When I started with the Central Arkansas Library System in 2005, it was to manage their bookstore (like a Friends sale but all the time and with an art gallery and coffee). I was still in love with the idea of working with the books as objects, but that obsession was quickly outshined by my love for the process people went through to get to the stuff they wanted. I noticed I was happier after a day of desk work helping people get what they needed and wanted than I was after a day of selecting and working with the historic Childrens collection I was in charge of pricing and selling off to a University. I get great satisfaction from working within a library to support the growth and creation of something new by supporting the interests and discoveries of library members. Ive found that the challenges of creating equitable access and building supportive community relationships, means more to me than my object obsessions. When I made that shift, I knew I wanted to become a librarian. Brian: What drew you to the Members Services Consultant position, and more importantly STLS? Margo: I love talking about libraries and leveraging my passion for material culture into a useful tool for community growth. In my opinion, there is no better institution for furthering the cause of an engaged, informed, civil society, than public libraries. The Member Services Consultant position allows me to help librarians better understand and access the resources available to them through our System and grow the resources available to them on the state and local level. Brian: What type of library work did you do prior to coming to STLS? Margo: Most recently (last Friday!) I was the librarian for the South Seneca Middle and High School Library in Ovid, NY - a small, rural school serving around 450 students in grades 6-12 and their teachers. I am also the History Unbound Project Coordinator for the South Central Regional Library Council. The project is part of the Teaching with Primary Sources grant program funded by the Library of Congress and really highlights the shift from print to digital in our profession generally. My main responsibilities include building and maintaining an online guide for educators and librarians around the state to use to access curriculum aligned primary sources from New York Heritage, Library of Congress and Digital Public Library of America collections. Brian: How do you plan on initially connecting with STLS member libraries? Margo: I think member libraries will get initial contact with me through Advocacy Day related activities and media, communication around our rebranding, and our new website. After that, Id like to start visiting libraries and getting to know what our members value through communication in their home setting. Brian: The strength of STLS resides in the uniqueness of our member libraries. What do you feel is the best way to support and relate to libraries with different needs? Margo: Like many of our libraries, I am just now becoming fully aware of the breadth of services STLS provides. Part of my position is to open wide the path of communication between the System and each of our member libraries so that our services are closely related to library needs. Brian: What do you hope to accomplish in your first year at STLS? Margo: Everything, all at once. Within my first year at STLS, members will know who to contact at STLS to have a question answered or a need met. They will be able to get information on any service we provide through an easy to access and navigate online interface. They will know that there is a team of librarians dedicated to helping them secure the training they need and the funding they deserve. Brian: What are the things taking place in libraries that get you most excited? Margo: Everything, all at once. Just kidding. I know I cant answer the same way twice. The core services that libraries provide to their communities continually get me excited - the stuff of information referral, the building of the third place culture - thats how weve been improving the lives of thousands of New Yorkers for years. The thing that I believe has actually changed is our willingness to talk openly and loudly about our value. I think its fairly new that every librarian takes advocacy on as a part of their job, and the shift is really exciting. Brian: What do you feel is the single most common good public libraries provide in the year 2014? Margo: I think about this question a lot. Every time I do, I arrive at an answer that doesnt focus on a single service - everything we do to serve our communities is in important. And that idea is the key to the most common good public libraries provide. We are the perspective finder, the social worker, the homework help, the privacy protector, the information conduit, the public space, the educator, the facilitator, the advocate, and the friend. In what other institution is equitable access to resources a part of the mission? In what other institution is the ideal of democracy so supported as in a public library? In a time when public institutions are falling to privatization, it is in the public library that the promise of a civil society continues to grow. ---- End of Transcript---- There were many qualities to Margo that got me excited about her appointment. She has a wide-array of library experience (school, public and special). She is extremely knowledgeable (and a fellow graduate of Syracuse University). She has served in retail and high-contact customer service. She is native to the STLS region, and already a community member. But most importantly, she is passionate about libraries. This is the single most important criteria for STLS staff candidates. . It can be a challenge to connect with member libraries at the System level. We dont see patrons everyday, and sometimes we dont see member librarians everyday. An STLS staff strength that solidifies our commitment to member libraries is our natural ability to be passionate about your work. Library and community passion is what holds our five-county library system together. . I know everyone will provide Margo with the support she needs in the coming weeks, so she can provide the support you need in the years to come. Have a wonderful December weekend, STLS! Kindest Regards, Brian M. Hildreth, Executive Director Southern Tier Library System
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 18:46:19 +0000
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