Kimberly Reiter 2020 M.S. Library Science with Graduate Academic Certificates in Advanced Management in Libraries and Information Agencies, and Youth Services in Libraries and Information Agencies

When I talked with Kimberly, she had just finished Story time at the library, where she had 50 attendees. She said that she incorporates themes, and this month was dinosaurs, which is apparently a popular one. She said they had done story times based on oceans all summer, and that had been popular as well even if dinosaurs seemed to have usurped it.

Kimberly has been working at Cooke County Library in Gainesville since 2006, but that is not what she had originally planned. As a matter of fact, she had planned to be an elementary education teacher, but when she graduated, there was a hiring freeze in the schools, and she was already working part-time at the library. A full-time position came open, so she grabbed it. She tells this story to remind us that what you think you want to do, and what you end up doing can be different, and it can be wonderful.

She is currently the Associate Director and Children’s Class Coordinator for the library. She takes care of daily and statistical reports, cataloging and processing of materials, and children’s programming. She teaches pre-school children’s class weekly, art and STEM for kids and tweens, and manages many outreach programs to local schools. 

I asked her why she went back to school to get the M.S. Library Science when she already had the job, and she said it had always been a goal of hers to get more education because it opens doors. It has also given her opportunities to advance into a management position. At some point, she hopes to be prepared to take over the role of Library Director. Currently, she is second in command and takes over supervision of 5 full-time and 3 part-time staff members when the Director is gone. She also assists with the interview process and works on daily, monthly, and annual state reports.

Of her time at UNT, she says that she appreciated the online delivery of the program. She was also happy to have won the LIS Excellence scholarship and the Melba S Harvill Scholarship. She remembers that Dr. Larry Enoch had done a great job explaining how the program would work and what resources they had available at the open house they had before the program started. Finally, she credits the storytelling courses for helping her overcome the challenge of presenting and recording herself, which came in handy during COVID, when the library went online through Facebook for story times.