Meet Your YSS Board: Debbie Olguin

Debbie Olguin was on the YSS Board a few years back, and she recently got back on board as the YSS Chair-Elect.  It's great to have her back on board!  Debbie is the Youth Services Librarian at the Franklin Public Library.

You are back on the YSS board after a little break.  What draws you back to working so closely with YSS? I enjoy meeting other youth services librarians in the state, hearing what they’re doing, getting inspired and staying informed. I would encourage everyone to get involved in WLA or some other organization outside of their library and even, their system. I think it opens your eyes to a broader picture of librarianship and helps you think outside the box.

What is something you’ve done at your library in the past year that you are especially excited about? I know this will sound strange, but I had the time to finally go through the collection thoroughly. The last ten years, I have focused on building strong programming, but without adequate staff, I wasn’t able to keep up with the demands of the collection and department. This year, I have an intern covering our weekly preschool programming which has allowed me to concentrate my efforts on making the department user-friendly and inviting as well as  cleaning up and reorganizing the collection.

If you were putting together a dinner party, what children’s/ya book characters do you think you’d invite? Pretzel, Georgie the Ghost and Frances (no backsies!) to reminisce about my childhood, Elephant & Piggie because they make me laugh, Halt and Will because I would love to hear about all their adventures and Skulduggery Pleasant and Stephanie to learn about magic!

What inspires you in your library work? Children

What do you love to do OUTSIDE the library? Spend time with my daughter and enjoy nature

If you had 20 more hours in a week, how would you use them? Not well, unfortunately, because I know that I would work more than I already do!  But ideally, I would want to not rush in the morning, spend more time with my daughter, walk the dog more, go hiking more and volunteer more

What’s a book you’ve read or listened to recently that you really loved?  Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers (read it twice) and Wonder by R.J. Palacio (cried like a baby).