COLRAIN — Griswold Memorial Library patrons will see a familiar face if they ask to see the library’s new director. Val Finkel, who formerly served as co-assistant director, has been promoted to the top position.
Finkel, who took over as director two weeks ago, has worked at the library for four years and has been a resident of Colrain for eight years. They said they were excited to become director, and living and working in town over the years has allowed them to develop a good understanding of the work and the community’s needs and desires for the library.
“It’s been fantastic, kind of a whirlwind,” Finkel said. “I’m lucky to have been working here already, so I already had a good start on a lot of the things that I’m digging into now.”
They are replacing former Director Chelsea Jordan-Makely, who stepped down from the role in August to begin a PhD program at Simmons University.
“When Chelsea left a couple of months ago, I applied for the director job and was delighted to get it,” Finkel said.
Finkel said they had moved to Colrain to pursue farming after completing a master’s program in philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York.
“I got out of New York and came up here. I made my way up from Pittsfield to Cummington to Colrain, where I found property,” Finkel said. “I have a small farm up on Route 112, so that’s what brought me to Colrain initially, farming.”
After a few years living in town, Finkel joined the Agricultural Commission and developed deeper ties to the community. Finkel said the wife of a commission member was on the library’s board of trustees and recommended they take a job as a library assistant.
“I’ve always been a lover of books,” Finkel said. “I love bringing media to people, turning people onto new stuff they love, and just offering information and opportunities.”
Finkel worked as a library assistant at Griswold Memorial Library for three years, then took on the role of co-assistant director alongside Dominique Beausoleil. As the new library director, Finkel said their goal is to promote the library as “a community space for everybody.”
“Something that is really important to Colrainers is to have a community space,” Finkel said. “I think the way I’m going to approach that is by doing more regular programming, so trying for more weekly and monthly programs over one-off programs, which, while they’re very interesting, don’t necessarily build community as much.”
They said weekly and monthly story times, game nights and movie nights will supplement non-regular programming and annual events, and give patrons more reason to come to the library regularly.
Annual events such as Fix-It Day and William Apess Day will continue and hopefully expand, Finkel added.
“We had a lot more space this year,” Finkel said regarding Fix-It Day. “It was a very lovely event.”
They added that they hope to expand the library’s collection, particularly by offering a tool-lending library. As a personal goal, they hope to convince more people to read the classics, particularly one of their favorites, “In Search of Lost Time” by Marcel Proust.
“Try the classics. They’re not as scary as they seem, and they’re classics for a reason,” Finkel said.
Finkel said the library will be looking to hire a new substitute library assistant to fill the vacancy left by their promotion. With the help of the Griswold Memorial Library staff, they hope to make the library the community center of Colrain.
“I really value community. I love being a part of it, and I love to see everybody come to the library,” Finkel said. “I see my role as a community facilitator.”