Our staff was featured in The Livingston Parish News:
The dedicated staffs of our five new state-of-the-art regional libraries have made them the cultural centers of Livingston Parish.
Heading up the staff at the South Branch Library between Killian and French Settlement is manager Robb Webb. With undergraduate and Master of Library and Information Science degrees from LSU, he remained at the university there to serve for 10 years on the staff of Middleton Library. He then became head of circulation at Baton Rouge Community College Library for five years before being hired to his present position in 2006.
“I am very impressed by the warmth and generosity of the community and I am encouraged by their participation in programs held at the library,” Webb said. “The … staff has been wonderful to work with and I am motivated by their dedication, hard work, and imagination.”
A 1965 graduate of DSHS, Louise Bankston is putting her 25 years of working with the public in service and retail sales to excellent use as both the adult book club facilitator and the organizer of gallery exhibits. She knows her audience and what they like.
She gives “The Kite Runner,” a novel set in Afghanistan, as an example of the opportunity the book club provides to “entertain ideas never explored and travel to places we have never been.” She said the hunt for local exhibitors is “like finding hidden treasure,” and she finds excitement in getting the exhibits to “flow.”
Nora Melancon followed her SLU business degree with six years in the business world before opting to join the library, where she works with young adults in the book club and Anime/Addicts Manga/Maniacs group. She gears book choices to those that offer “another pair of eyes” to give teens insight into possible outcomes of their decisions. Once the purview of “outsiders,” she believes Manga and Anime have become teen staples, and her group provides an outlet for opinions and creativity inspired by that interest.
A 2001 LSU graduate in mass communications, Rob Mulhearn worked in retail management before joining the library where he teaches computer classes, maintains library statistics and serves the public at the reference and circulation desks.
A local student enrolled in a double degree program at SLU, Austin Dixon graduated from Maurepas High School as valedictorian of the class of 2006. While preparing to attend medical school and become a psychiatrist, he works part time at the library, where he worlds at the circulation and reference desks and assists Mulhearn in teaching computer classes. (“Applause”)
Works Cited
“Applause.” The Livingston Parish News [Livingston, LA] 27 Oct. 2009. Web. 22 Apr. 2011.