A familiar face is now Head Librarian at Jake Epp Library in Steinbach. Carolyn Graham who started at the library nearly twenty-five years ago is taking over for Loraine Trudeau who stepped down at the end of May.

Graham explains her first role with the library way back when was helping out with story hour. She then took over the accounting job and worked her way up to Assistant Librarian; a position she held for ten years. Graham says what interested her in working at the library two and a half decades ago, was her love for reading, a love that has never left.

She says filling the shoes of Trudeau will be tough.

"That is a challenge," she admits. "Loraine was much appreciated by all the staff as well as the public and our community. She has a very vibrant personality."

Graham says she has the same basic goals for the library that Trudeau had, but says they are different people and it remains to be seen just what this might mean for the library. Yet, Graham says Trudeau has prepared her for this position.

"She was the kind of person who worked with others," notes Graham. "We worked together on a lot of projects and so I've had my fingers in a lot of the big stuff and had at least some view of it and a little bit of work on it. So that has made this transition much easier so that I know the basics that are before me."

As for changes she plans to make, Graham says those will probably come eventually but only because time requires change. She says one thing that might lead to change is the popularity of eBooks. Yet, Graham says she doesn't ever think these will make libraries irrelevant, noting libraries are no longer just a holder of books, but a community space.

"We do so many things within these walls," she says. "Literacy is a prime thing that we support. All reading will support literacy and that is going to be an ongoing thing probably forever. So I don't see the libraries lessening their influence on the community. I think that there's a place for us to enlarge that to the benefit of all the people around."

When asked why the role of Head Librarian interested her, Graham answered, "This place is in my blood, it's in my heart. The staff is special, it's a special place to be."

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