LAURINBURG — After getting both her bachelors and masters degrees from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, one Scotland County native is back home to take on the role of youth services librarian.
Jenna Knight has recently taken on the position at Scotland Memorial Library after Lynnette Butler left in July. Knight was born and raised in Scotland County before she went to Greensboro to get her bachelors in public health and masters in library information studies.
“I think being from here is a good trait to have in our public library,” Knight said. “Knowing the community and knowing the population that we’re serving and knowing patrons who come through the door is really helpful.”
Knight said her family and the hometown connection brought her back to Scotland County and she’s very excited to have her first full-time librarian job where she grew up.
“A lot of my peers were looking for opportunities in large places like Charlotte, Raleigh and Wilmington,” Knight said. “I felt like all that talent was going to places that were already well-supported, and being able to bring that to my hometown is really nice, because I think we need support too.”
Growing up, Knight said she was always very involved in the programs with the library and many of her childhood memories revolve around the library, from the summer reading program and doing research at the library. She added that she’s always felt most comfortable in the library so the career path grew from that.
One of the things Knight is excited about bringing to the library is making more community connections. She’s particularly looking at some of the daycare systems and looking at literacy for babies.
“It’s something that’s supported in early childhood but outside of that field you don’t hear a lot about it,” Knight said. “Even the American Library Association has a campaign called Babies Need Words Too, so what’s really great about that is bringing in the knowledge that even though an infant can’t read they still need access to print to learn how to read.”
Knight added that she’s hoping that through outreach she’ll be able to partner with a lot of different community organizations so that both will be supporting each other.
“I feel like it’s just amazing to be able to be able to just feel like I can bring what I know to Scotland County,” Knight said. “And be able to reach out to people in those leadership roles that I know and we can all work together and improve not only literacy in the community but also arts and cultural activities which I don’t think a lot of people are aware that libraries support that as well.”
Scotland County Memorial Library Director Leon Gyles said that he’s thrilled to have Knight in the position, especially with September being Library Card Sign-up Month.
“We’re looking forward to revitalizing the youth services to Scotland County,” Giles said. “We’re encouraging all parents to make sure their child has a library card … it is a ticket for them to become better educated.”
For information about the Scotland County Memorial Library, contact 910-276-0563.
Reach Katelin Gandee at 910-506-3171 or at kgandee@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com
