The Friday Follow-up: Member Insight with Keturah Cappadonia

What do you discuss with a regional and national scholarship recipient? After spending time with Keturah Cappadonia, development administrator and special collections librarian, it was clear we would talk about the value of rural libraries.

Keturah came to the David A. Howe Public Library in 2015. She was hired as the children’s librarian to oversee services to Wellsville’s youngest community members. In just a short period of time, Keturah developed programs outside the boundaries of traditional services.

An example of her embedded librarianship includes early literacy training for expecting parents. Keturah partnered with a local hospital to participate in a curriculum-based workshop at which she talks about the importance of reading to infants and the library’s many resources for families. Her efforts have increased awareness of weekly story time and the number of babies exposed to board books.

This type of mindfulness is one reason Keturah received a scholarship to this year’s NYLA Conference through STLS, but it might also be why she is attending the 2017 Mini Institute of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association.

For her ALSC scholarship interview, Keturah was quoted as saying, “My commitment to children’s librarianship is one which brings me much joy and satisfaction and which allows me to bring the same feelings to others.”

I am not sure if it’s Keturah’s alternative approaches that prove her effectiveness or the dozens of hand-drawn pictures from story time kids in her office? What I do know is her outputs seem to place her in a category of solid librarianship.

I asked Keturah about her new role at the library. Most recently she was appointed to the position of development administrator and special collections librarian. She laughed when I asked her to explain this charge. To sum it up, she procures grant funding for project-based services and oversees the preservation of the library’s many special collections.

It was this discussion where I most connected with Keturah. Her background lends to this new position because she studied history in college. She quickly paraphrased Edmund Burke, “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.”

Keturah indicated now is an important moment to reflect upon past histories. I think we both kind of paused after this statement because we knew where the conversation might take us. And as librarians, we scratched the surface of that discussion, but hesitated to go too far. I think we both acknowledged in our own ways where libraries needed to go.

It is her work in special collections that will allow for future generations to understand how the community came to be. She expressed concern over the conditions of some collections including a 300 piece Abraham Lincoln archive donated back in the 1950’s and an infamous bird egg collection that has attracted the interest of Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology. It is not a light responsibility.

At the end of our interview, I asked Keturah about what she loves most at the Howe Library. Her answer was simple, “I really enjoy working with our staff and patrons.” Her mindset revolved around the notion public libraries are for people and about bringing people together. We talked about how powerful it is to see patrons’ waiting at the front door before the library is even opened. It gives librarians a strong understanding of how valuable their actions might be on any particular day.

I want to thank Keturah for taking the time to speak with me. Our conversations were fantastic. I really value the work she does as a member librarian. And, I equally value the work of all STLS member librarians and trustees.