and Teen Departments along with the other Youth Services Librarians.”
She got to know the families who visited the Children’ s Department.“ Building lasting relationships with parents and children of all ages was accomplished through excellent story times, programs, outreach programs and her bubbly personality,” says Sforza.“ She won a Best Practices Award from the Pennsylvania Library Association for her dynamic Rolling and Strolling Summer Story Time Program. Amanda thinks‘ outside the box’ and is a visionary of great magnitude who will continue making WACL a fantastic community hub. I am proud she is my successor as Library Director.”
Kirby also understands firsthand the needs of parents and children, as a mom of two little boys, ages one and three.
“ For almost all public libraries in Allegheny County, young children and their families are what we always call the bread and butter; they make up the biggest portion of our users,” she says.
And she’ s right. A 2013 national study by The Pew Internet and American Life Project showed that 70 percent of parents reported that their child visited a public library in the past 12 months and 55 percent said their child had his / her own library card.
“ Our circulation on children’ s books is well beyond that of anything in any other collection in the library,” says Kirby.“ Kids are always at the forefront of what our vision is for the library and what our services are going to be. Being a young mom, I know what I’ m looking for, so it’ s easy to give feedback and have that incorporated into what we are doing. It helps steer where we are going.”
The community’ s needs are number one on the priority list.“ We really try to cater to what our community wants and try to fill those
“ People absolutely love being in libraries. It makes them feel good and they are excited to be there, and that’ s why this is a great job to have— to do something that makes people happy.”
gaps and are always looking for feedback,” she continues.“ We have a really active Board that is great with the vision and ideas and inspiration, and really help us to get where we want to go.”
Patty Giura is the WACL Board of Trustees President.“ Amanda has been an invaluable resource to the library since she came aboard,” she says.“ Her skills in the children’ s area were highly regarded early on and soon she stood out as a future leader of the library. She was always willing to give a fresh perspective and help the Board really understand how the library works, as well as offer ideas to move us to the next level. When the Director position became available, we knew Amanda would be a great choice and she has lived up to our every expectation. We are lucky to have her!”
Kirby invites people to the library who may have preconceived notions about it.“ We are not the stereotypical library that you think of from the past,” she says.“ It is more like a community center and we aren’ t going to‘ shush’ you. We want you to come in and spend time and use the space. You will be surprised and impressed by what you’ ll find.”
For more information on WACL’ s upcoming events, visit westernalleghenylibrary. org. n
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