Wanda joined the library staff as a full-time Public Service Librarian in August. She comes to us with a wealth of experience in a variety of school, public, and university library settings throughout the Northeast. In addition to her Masters degree in Library Science, Wanda also holds degrees in Sociology and Guidance & Counseling. Before becoming a librarian, she was a social worker who focused on disabled children, social welfare programs, and crisis counseling. That know-how will be put to good use as Wanda is the Library Liaison to CCC’s Social Science department. “Carroll is so welcoming and friendly. I love that the faculty here is active in using the library, and that students are here asking questions.”
Wanda’s love of reading and desire to help people made librarianship a perfect fit. “I completed career interest inventories at two different phases of my life. Both times, I was steered toward ‘helping’ careers – first in social work, and now in libraries.” Wanda has been lucky enough to work in some fascinating library jobs. As a member of the Connecticut Newspaper Project, she handled rare documents at Yale University and newspapers owned by Nineteenth-Century-author Washington Irving. She also served as a Reference librarian for the Statewide Reference Center in Camden Co., New Jersey, where she answered questions that had proven too difficult for other public librarians in the state!
No stranger to the Mid-Atlantic, Wanda grew up in northern Virginia and is happy to be back in the area, connecting with nearby family and friends. She’s enjoying the region’s many destinations for hiking, kayaking, and white-water rafting, as well as the proximity to important Civil War sites. Wanda is also an avid contra dancer.
When she’s not in her kayak or following contra dance calls, Wanda may be found reading biographies or watching classic movies. “When I become interested in a particular actor, I try to watch all his or her films, read biographies, maybe see an interview on Inside the Actor’s Studio.” Wanda also enjoys reading novels but is careful about timing fiction reading to vacations. “I have a fiction addiction. Once I pick up a good novel, I can’t stop reading it, even if I have to stay up all night!” When she does allow herself the guilty pleasure, Wanda likes mysteries, particularly with Native American characters, like Tony Hillerman, Nevada Barr, and Kathleen and Michael Gear.
Welcome, Wanda!
