Here are two ladies who are full of novel ideas they share with the West Deptford Free Public Library on a daily basis.  Margaret Hampton and Marie Dutton serve the public with smiles and years of experience.

Margaret shares her exemplary customer service and care giving skills with staff and the public in the Children’s Department.   Every day she builds on the training she has received through the ExperienceWorks program and hands-on training at the Library to support story time programs, after school children’s activities and library collection care.  Before working at the library, Margaret raised her ten children and worked in the nursing field.

During National Women’s Month 2011, we celebrated with Brittany Blue as she worked her last day as a West Deptford Free Public Library page.  Brittany and family were moving out of the area and she about to start a new adventure in the world of commerce.  A year has passed and the WDFPL staff still misses her at the library.  The photograph below shows Brittany with Diane Cann, WDFPL Children’s Librarian, and Margaret Hampton seated at Brittany’s farewell celebration.

Marie Dutton works in the Adult Services and Technology Departments assisting the public with technology questions and staff with technology projects from creating computer class calendars to archiving the Adult Summer Reading program data in Microsoft Excel using the training she has gained at the West Deptford Free Public Library.  Marie Dutton is always ready to jump in to learn something new.  Here is Marie with Eleanore Farrell, WDFPL Circulation Staffer, working on iPad web research during a New Jersey State Library grant funded Mobile Device training session.

The West Deptford Free Public Library partnership with ExperienceWorks is a winning situation for all parties involved.  Unfortunately, during summer 2012 both ladies were given notice that they were no longer eligible to continue to be employed through ExperienceWorks.  This came as a surprise to Library staff.  After much reflection and debate, both Margaret and Marie agreed to continue working at the West Deptford Free Public Library as volunteers.  This is wonderful news for the public!  Library staff and volunteers move forward in life-long learning and library service.

One day Marie Dutton shared the photo below as we were building a library display highlighting Liz Taylor. I thought…she does look a lot like her and smiled in agreement. She then said, “I was a woman’s libber you know, and I am glad I didn’t burn my bra for nothing.”

Thank goodness for West Deptford Free Public Library volunteers!

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 11th, 2012 at 10:57 pm and is filed under Life in the Library. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.