New Wyoming Branch Librarian Named

By Vickie Sorn

The new Wyoming Area Branch Librarian “loves the challenge of meeting the patron’s needs.” “It’s sometimes like being a detective trying to figure it out,” says Rebecca Hostetler, new branch librarian. “Many times you don’t know where the search will take you.” Rebecca was chosen for the branch librarian position when former librarian, Maria Gruener, took a new library position as Watertown Regional Library Assistant Director in her native South Dakota.

Rebecca moved to Pine City five years ago and began working for ECRL in January 2007 as a reference assistant at the Cambridge branch. During her time at Cambridge she has become knowledgeable in electronic databases, reader’s advisory and interlibrary loan resources. Rebecca has a Masters of Divinity degree and is currently enrolled in the Minnesota Voluntary Certification Program for librarians.

From visiting her school and public library growing up in South Bend, Indiana, to the Carnegie Library in Barron, Wisconsin, where she worked as a public librarian, libraries have always been an important part of Rebecca’s life. “Libraries educate, re-create, gather, motivate and challenge members of a community,” believes Rebecca. They are an important part of the community because they can “open worlds for users by providing them with information in a variety of forms.”

Teaching is Rebecca’s passion and she would like to empower everyone that visits the Wyoming Area Library with the skills they need to use the library to its fullest. Rebecca sees one of the biggest challenges to be “to connect individuals, families, groups and the community with their library so that they use it to its fullest potential for their own benefit.” It’s important that the community realize what their “free” Wyoming Library card has to offer.

To get people in the door of the Wyoming Library to utilize all its services, Rebecca says we need “education, education and more education and satisfied customers will bring more users.” From quiet libraries with books with cards and pockets to bustling libraries with online databases and teens playing Wii , libraries have come a long way. Rebecca asks, “When was the last time you entered the doors of endless knowledge?” Stop by and meet the new Wyoming Area Branch Librarian, Rebecca Hostetler. Her enthusiasm for libraries is contagious, so be careful….

you might just catch it, too!