CULLMAN, Ala. – Meet the Cullman County Public Library System’s (CCPLS) new Assistant Director, Josie Harrington. Harrington started in her new position Jan. 6, 2020.
Harrington, a resident of Cullman, shared, “I was born and raised in Cullman, and I’ve lived here for most of my life. The exceptions are for when I was in college.”
She has worked with the CCPLS on and off for two years now.
“I actually first came to work with the CCPLS about two years ago,” said Harrington. “I had applied for a part-time page position in the fall of 2017, and come spring of 2018 I got a call back asking if I’d like to be the Youth Services Librarian and do storytime and the Summer Learning Program. I did that until the end of the summer, at which point I moved out of town for a while for school. Last fall I saw that the CCPLS was looking to hire an assistant director and I was glad to apply for the position. I’ve really loved working here.”
Harrington has a background in arts, but discovered a love for library sciences.
“I actually have a bachelor’s degree in theatre, but during my four years at the University of Montevallo I worked at the library on campus. I loved working there. I actually looked forward to going to work each day!” she smiled. “During that time, I discovered that it was possible (and in fact required) to get a degree in Library and Information Studies. Once I graduated from Montevallo, I pursued my MLIS (Master of Library and Information Studies) at the University of Alabama, and graduated August 2019.”
What exactly does an assistant librarian do?
“In a public library, many of the positions are a sort of catch-all, and assistant director is no different,” Harrington said. “There’s some administrative work, some circulation, answering patrons’ questions about materials and resources, helping with computers, and so on. A little bit of everything. The majority of what I do is administrative, though, with a decent amount of computer help thrown in. I’ll order new supplies, make signs, help plan library events, write grants, teach patrons how to do certain things on computers, etc.”
Harrington became the new assistant director at an interesting time, just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic began making everyday life a little different.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult to carry out a number of our normal operations,” she said. “Of course, the library has been closed, which I know has been difficult for our patrons. We’ve had some weirdness with overdue notices. We’re waiving overdue fines for the time being, but some patrons are still getting notices that they’ve got overdue materials. We’ve had some technology funkiness that we’ve been trying to work out, but it’s sort of been put on hold because the issues only really appear when patrons are using our resources. I’ve also been working on a grant proposal for a new bookmobile, and some of that I’ve been able to do from home, but not all of it.”
Find the CCPLS online at www.facebook.com/cullmancountypubliclibrarysystem, www.facebook.com/fotplocc or www.ccpls.com.
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