Patch Asks: What's It Like To Run Potomac's Public Library?

In a new feature on North Potomac-Darnestown and Potomac Patch, we'll introduce you to a new community member every few weeks. These people will be in high profile positions within our areas, including educators, volunteers, public officials, etc.

This week, manager Lindsey Hundt introduces herself and answers five questions.

1. How did your career patch take you to the Potomac Library? Did you know it was a field you were interested in pursuing for a long time?

I had been a librarian in other branches of Montgomery County Public Libraries for 18 years before I was transferred to Potomac. While I have been a branch manager (we used to be called Head Librarians!) for 4 years here at Potomac, the majority of my career as a public librarian has been as a children's librarian. Before that, eons ago, I was a business/law librarian at a law firm in downtown Washington, DC.

2. What responsibilities does your day-to-day entail at Potomac Library?

I am responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Potomac Library which includes the smooth functioning of the physical plant, management of the staff, lots of interaction with the public and community groups and systemwide responsibilities on departmental committees. My most important job, however, is direct customer service. At Potomac Library this primarily means lots of homework help, advice on reading choices and help navigating the Internet.

3. What books do you find are the most popular in the library? Which of those is your favorite and if not one of those, what other books are your favorites?

One of the great pleasures of serving the Potomac community is the opportunity to talk about books with intelligent and curious readers. Our community likes intellectually adventurous fiction writers such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Charles Frazier, Barbara Kingsolver, Vikram Seth, Ian McEwan, Alice Walker, Geraldine Brooks and many others and popular histories such as works by David McCullough and Joseph Ellis. But, this is such a diverse community whose interests are so wide ranging that our staff is also asked about all sorts of fields such as social science and music/art titles; for example "Thinking Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman, "My Nine Lives: a Memoir of Many Careers in Music" by the pianist Leon Fleisher and "The Warmth of Other Suns: the Epic Story of America's Great Migration" by Isabel Wilkerson.

Personally, I enjoy reading adult fiction set in the West such as the "Angle of Repose" by Wallace Stegner, "Plainsong" by Kent Haruf, "The Whistling Season" by Ivan Doig and "A River Runs Through It" and other stories by Norman Maclean.

I also appreciate children's nonfiction because it is usually so carefully researched and clearly written, for example "Flesh and Blood So Cheap:  the Triangle Fire and its Legacy" by Albert Marrin and "Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun" by Rhoda Blumberg.

And, I read lot of fiction for children. Some of my favorite children's books include "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly, "The Penderwicks" by Jeanne Birdsall, "A Year Down Yonder" by Richard Peck,  "The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963" by Christopher Paul Curtis, "One Crazy Summer" by Rita Williams-Garcia and "Surviving the Applewhites" by Stephanie Tolan. I am currently reading the terrific "Moon over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool, last year's Newbery Medal winner, and I am on the waiting list (even librarians have to go on wait lists!) for "Dead End at Norvelt" by Jack Gantos which was just awarded the Newbery Medal 2012.

4. What kind of programs and activities do you offer for the Potomac community and Montgomery County?

Potomac Library offers storytimes for babies, toddlers and preschoolers on Thursdays at 10:30 am, an English as a Second Language Conversation Club, and many special programs during the year. We also sponsor several book clubs and there is a monthly booksale run by our local Friends of the Library. On Saturday, 2/4, Potomac will host the Huang Chi Chinese School for a Chinese New Year event. The complete Calendar of Events for Potomac and all the Libraries in Montgomery County can be found at montgomerycountymd.gov/library.

5. What do you enjoy most about working with the Potomac community?

I like the way that families come to the library together to select books and other materials for everyone to enjoy. I like the way that Potomac Library is a community destination where people come to read, chat, research, visit, check out books and use the Internet. I like the way that the parents in this community encourage their children to value books and reading because it shows they really care about their well being. And, I really like it that the Potomac community appreciates and respects this treasure -- the local public library.