Diane johnson

Patience with the Process

Story By: SAMANTHA CHERY

If books are windows to the world, then libraries must be the storehouses of society, right?

“Not exactly,” says Diane Johnson.

Johnson has witnessed how libraries have transformed for the better over the years. Now as manager of the Alachua County Library District’s Cone Park branch, she wants people to see how they are more than just book repositories.

“Libraries have changed their image,” she said. “They’re a lot more engaged directly in the community with a lot more to offer.”

She first fell in love with the tranquil environment that freed her mind to think as a little girl living with 13 siblings in Newark, New Jersey.

“There was a lot of activity going on in my home all the time,” she said. “So libraries as a child turned out to be a place where I could find quiet and peace.”

She moved on from the community library to the downtown branch of the Newark Free Public Library at Rutgers University in her teenage years.

“It’s always just had a wonderful presence,” she said. “I just enjoyed milling around and the sense of hope that resonated through being in a place where people were engaged in academic activities.”

Despite her passion, she didn’t immediately dive into a library career after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania.

She instead married Darryl Johnson, and the couple raised six children together. As the kids entered grade school, she put her career ambitions on hold and opted for administrative assistant jobs with set hours to put her family activities first.

She had to “have patience with the process”

and trust that she would eventually have the opportunity to land her dream job as a library manager.

“It was difficult to watch other women succeed in their career choices while I was taking care of my six children,” she said. “But in the end, in 2006, I had gone back to school, and I got my master’s in library sciences at age 50.”

With the encouragement and love from her faith, family and friends, Johnson’s patience yielded success. She’s now managed the county library’s Cone Park branch for about five years.

“Diane Johnson brings passion for community engagement,” said Emily Young, public services administrator and Johnson’s supervisor. “She enthusiastically informs community members of services provided by the library district and has established new partnerships to encourage community members to visit the Cone Park Branch.”

One such collaboration was with Desmon Walker, coordinator of the A. Quinn Jones Museum and Cultural Center. Walker curated the Life and Legacy of A. Quinn Jones Touring Exhibit, which were educational pictorial panels that showcased the local historical figure at the library for Black History Month.

“I provided the venue; she offered the history. It was a win-win partnership for both organizations,” Johnson said.

Johnson sees each day at the library as a new opportunity to make memories with local residents.

Babies prepare themselves to learn to read. Small children discover the wonder in books themselves. Teenagers reach out to the community and learn to give back. And adults bring their families into the library for the cycle to repeat.

From food drives to flash drives, libraries are no longer just the quiet place where people go to check out books anymore. They are community-oriented entities that help people reach their goals.

Time may have changed the look and feel of libraries from what Johnson first experienced, but she loves them just the same.

“Very often, I find that people today want it all. And they want it right now,” she said. “Often life does not work that way. Often you have to just be patient

OFTEN YOU HAVE TO JUST BE PATIENT AND LET THINGS FLOW AND DEVELOP IN YOUR OWN TIME, ORGANICALLY.

- Diane Johnson

and let things flow and develop in your own time, organically.”

Patience prevails.

“Now I’ve got the career, and I’ve got these six terrific adult individuals who happen to be my children, who I love and who love me, and it’s kind of all worked out.”