CHARLEMONT — Tyler Memorial Library’s new Director Kim Gabert views her job as an opportunity to provide knowledge, in both physical and virtual capacities, to her community.
For more than 20 years, Gabert has been doing various forms of library work, from reference, to adult services, to cataloging and technical services. Her work has culminated in this opportunity at Tyler Memorial Library — her first time being a library director.
While Gabert has spent most of her life surrounded by books, the job wasn’t always something she had her eye on.
After graduating from the University of California at Santa Cruz with an undergraduate degree in psychology, however, she knew she might not be able to get a job in counseling right away. So Gabert got a job at UCSC, where she worked as a bookkeeper for six years.
She remembers an advisor telling her that being a bookkeeper wasn’t the only way she could work in libraries, and that taking positions as a librarian would surround her with books while providing equitable access and knowledge to communities.
“I realized that it was adventurous, and that you could do a lot of different things,” Gabert said of her decision to explore the field. “It didn’t limit my options.”
The job could give her an added bonus: the chance to return closer to home.
“The thought was, ‘This would get me back east,’” she recalled.
Gabert graduated from Simmons University in Boston with a master’s degree in information and library sciences in 1998, going on to work at many libraries over the years before returning to her home state of Massachusetts. She’s found herself everywhere from New Haven, Conn., to Milford, N.H., even working for a time at a library she grew up frequenting in Darien, Conn.
Gabert made the move to Charlemont for this position, though she is no stranger to the area. She has roots that stem from her youth when her mother and stepfather moved to Rowe. She grew up going to The Rowe Center as a teen, and members of her family still live in Rowe and Hawley.
“It’s great to get a more in-depth experience of the space and community,” Gabert said of her time thus far getting to know the Tyler Memorial Library and the people it serves. She looks forward to continuing to support library-goers and creating more opportunities for both physical and virtual library experiences.
Gabert knew that broadband was just arriving in Charlemont and surrounding towns, so she took the job knowing that a teaching opportunity would be presented to her.
“I’m ready to work with people and help them learn the technology,” she said.
She believes one-on-one learning is most effective, and looks to implement that type of instruction when she’s able to get people into the library.
“I’m happy to work with people over the phone or willing to do it on Zoom,” Gabert added.
“Thinking about not just the physical space, but the virtual space as well,” Gabert said, is of the utmost importance to her. With both spaces, and resources like downloadable audiobooks, people with different styles of learning can be accommodated by the library. She believes that creating access to resources for everyone is at the heart of her work.
“There’s something about democracy in there for me,” she mused.
Among other things, Gabert said she hopes to bring back the library’s weekly children’s story time once health safety regulations allow.
“When we can get kids in here again, that would be my first priority,” she said, though her desire for access doesn’t stop at making resources available to children.
“(It’s) not just (about) the kids, but people who are underserved having the same access to knowledge as those who are not,” Gabert said. She hopes to impart that access and mission for knowledge onto the community around her.
While “there’s nothing like a brand new book,” Gabert made sure to add, the books physically available in the Tyler Memorial Library are not the only ones people can get their hands on. Through the program CWMARS (Central/Western Massachusetts Automated Resource Sharing), people can obtain access to books from other area libraries and have them delivered to the library or their home. Tyler Memorial Library also boasts two computers and a printer and copy machine for public use.
Tyler Memorial Library is open Tuesdays from 1 to 5 p.m., Thursdays from 3 to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Individuals or small groups from the same household can call to schedule 20-minute appointments or show up day-of with the possibility of waiting their turn. Masks are required and curbside pickup is available.
An “open” flag will soon grace the front of the Charlemont Town Hall building at 157 Main St., where the library is located, to inform community members of when the library is open and staffed.
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