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Date: 12/29/2016
EAST LONGMEADOW – After close to a year without a permanent library director, East Longmeadow Public Library (ELPL) is now being led by Layla Johnston, who started work on Dec. 19 and previously worked as a manager at Springfield City Library for three years.
Former Library Director Susan Peterson retired Jan. 8 after leading ELPL for the past 11 years. Before Johnston was hired, Assistant Director Sharon Bellenoit served as acting director. The Library Board of Trustees offered the job to a top candidate during its first search, but that candidate declined to take the position and the board decided to restart the search process.
Johnston told Reminder Publications she was attracted to the library director position because of the vibrancy of the library.
“It’s very well used by the town, it has a reputation for having excellent staff, and fantastic children’s programs,” she noted.
She added she’s originally from Illinois and served as a library director of a small library in central Illinois for several years before moving to Massachusetts.
“I have family in the Boston area and knew that I wanted to be closer to them,” Johnston explained. “So, my family decided to move to Massachusetts. We like Western Massachusetts in that it has more of a rural [and] urban combination to it. The people are very friendly and very helpful. And so, I knew that my family wanted to stay in this area and I also knew that I wanted to be a director again and the timing was right.”
Johnston said she would like to expand the library’s digital learning options in the future.
“Libraries, overall, are really focused on community connections and stories,” she noted. “And the way that humans have made sense of their surroundings for many many years is through stories and for a long time that meant print books and learning to do new things meant print books. Now we’ve seen a real shift to digital storytelling and I’d really like to expand our capacity at this library for digital learning experiences whether it be coding classes for youth or YouTube video production.”
She added print books also remain important for ESPL as well, especially for promoting literacy.
“We just want to continue with that push [for increased digital offerings] while still also recognizing how important print books are for literacy, particularly for young children learning how to read,” Johnston said.
Johnston said she’s finding the staff “wonderful” and commended the work Bellenoit as acting director.
“All of the staff have been very friendly and really welcomed me and been really supportive,” she added.