Stephanie Reinhardt
Western Allegheny Community Library, Oakdale PA
Youth Services Librarian
A little about Stephanie’s job:
I work at a medium-sized public library in a rural/suburban area outside Pittsburgh. My department covers birth-18, and uses ECRR2 and STEAM concepts to enhance early learning opportunities in the library and the community at large. That really means that I have lots of opportunities to get into the community to share the love of learning. I also coordinate and runs a variety of teen and middle grade programs to foster curiosity and provide a safe space, both intellectually and physically, for older youth in the area. Of course, there’s also the infamous “other duties as assigned.”
1) What are some things you like about your job or about working in libraries in general?
In my job, I like the age range I get to work with. There’s something really nice about being able to run a baby storytime and watch children interacting with books very early, and then go to the teen room and get in a discussion about the best champion in League of Legends. I’ve worked at several libraries, and I’ve never gotten tired of helping people find new ways to connect to the things they love – whether that’s through books, programs, websites, or other resources.
2) What’s a project or committee you’re working on right now that you’re excited about?
I’ve been working on launching STEAM programming for every age group in the library. We’ve had some really great STEAM programming for school age kids (Bedtime Math’s Crazy 8’s has been a hit), and we’re extending that into PreK Art and Science, Middle School Mythbusters, and I’m sneaking some science and art into my teen’s hangout sessions. It’s a work in progress, but I think that really blowing up what they think is “math” (music, anyone?) or “science” (exploding things, gross things, stuff they do every day) has far-reaching implications for how they view lifelong learning in general.
3) What got you interested in libraries?
My parents told me that I had to get a job when I was 16, and I begged them not to make me apply anywhere else until I’d heard back about a paging position at the local library. Thankfully, I got that job, and worked there for about 6 years. I was really lucky – I was surrounded by librarians who wanted me to learn and wanted to learn from me. It’s a great working environment, but it really embodied what libraries can be to the community. I liked books (and obsessively neat shelves), but it was the people on both sides of the desk that really made the library a place I wanted to invest my time and energy.
4) What is one of your favorite things about NMRT?
NMRT does a great job connecting new members to each other and to the organization. Their recent partnership with LLAMA to create the New Professionals Section in that division was a great encouragement to me as a library student last year. Promoting the idea that leadership doesn’t come with a “desired years of experience” is one of NMRT’s strengths. They also gave me the opportunity to publish in Footnotes, which feels like a giant foot in the door. When you’re a student or recently graduated, you hear a lot of horror stories about getting into the field – the placement rate isn’t always the best in libraries – and by providing opportunities to interact with the profession and get yourself out there, the NMRT provides a real and valuable service.
5) Do you have any advice for other new librarians?
Try to read the job description for a job you want like it was already written for you. We can be a humble group of folks, and so we can sell ourselves short when it comes to applying for jobs, more easily identifying with the things that we don’t match with than the things we do. If you read it like the person was thinking of you when they wrote it, you might still see areas where they were mistaken, but you might find that you have strengths you didn’t think about before. Think about what jobs your mom would tell you that you were qualified for. If you have a job, thinking about the tasks in the same way can let you come up with ways that you bring something uniquely awesome to your job. Just because you think about something in a certain way all the time doesn’t mean it won’t be a really cool new perspective for everyone else.
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