THE LOUDEST LIBRARY:

Traci Lund Fills The Library With The Sounds Of Learning And Fun

life wasn’t really for me. This is what I was meant to do.”

Traci has been a librarian at the Divide County (DC) Library since 2009. “After my interview for the job, they showed me the library and I was amazed – I saw the big potential here and said “I can do this.” Lund has taken her role as librarian seriously, while developing fun programs for kids and the community along the way. “There wasn’t a story time when I started. Originally I planned an hour, but it was too much, too long for the kids to be still. So we went for half an hour and haven’t looked back – I usually read three books, we do dances, listen to music and/or do a craft. Sometimes I can just tell that 3 books is going to be too much that day, and we only read one – or in the middle of a book I realize the craft I had planned probably isn’t going to work and I change it up at the last minute. You just have to adapt to the group of kids you have that day, to keep it fun and exciting, so they see the library as some place they want to come back to.”

On top of the weekly Wednesday story time, Lund also plans summer reading activities to keep kids engaged. The program, which runs throughout the month of June, has been popular and grown exponentially in recent years. “We’ve had amazing participation from the community – last year I had to split story time into 2 sections because we had so many kids.” This year’s summer reading program is called “All Together Now,” and will boast a variety of books, crafts, snacks and experiments. “We get to do some bigger things this year, thanks in part to a $2000 grant we received from the Glen Perkins Educational Foundation,” shares Lund. “We’ll continue to have story time for the younger children on Wednesday mornings, and then in the afternoon, from 1-2pm we’ll have a program for older students, with fun books and activities like painting a stained glass heart and learning new languages – we’re even going to do some science experiments where we get to see some things ‘blow up,’ laughs Lund. “The kids are also going to get an opportunity to give back to the community by planting flower pots and delivering them to local businesses.” Program participants can also win fun prizes. “I usually have four different prizes,” says Lund, “and they earn a chance to win them by reading books, tracking their time and turning in their record sheets at the end of the month. It’s so fun to see how excited they get to win a prize, and it’s a great incentive to get them to read at home.”

When Lund isn’t busy planning story time and summer reading, she keeps busy making sure the library is in order. “Even before COVID, we started cleaning every returned book. Once the book is cleaned and checked in, we make sure it gets back to its rightful place on the shelf.” Being a librarian, however, involves more than just book organization. “We do so many different things each day – ordering, sending out and receiving books for people through the ND Interlibrary Loan program, attending ND Library Association meetings, helping people with the computer, photocopying articles, writing grants, planning for library programs and activities, ordering supplies for those activities, maintaining the website, paying the library bills, updating policies – there is always something keeping us busy.” The library was also awarded a $5000 grant towards the purchase of new books.

“It’s such a great opportunity to freshen up our offerings for every age group,” shares Traci.

This year has been extra busy for Lund as Denise Benson and Paulette Hall both retired from their positions at the library. On top of being the sole public librarian, Lund also added the title of “school librarian” to her name, which means the addition of teaching library classes to the elementary grades. “I have rotating 30-40 minute classes Monday-Thursday, and we cover a variety of topics – copywrite, plagiarism, poetry, cause and effect, even how to find the right book for their interests and reading level. We read and discuss magazine articles, and this year the older students did a kind of mock trial, where they read this book "Did Spongebob Kill Squidward?” and had to present their case as lawyers. I real- ly try to teach them how to think critically,” says Lund. “Now that I have a year under my belt, I can start to make a plan for next year, to keep improving and help them understand that reading is forever relevant to their life.”

“We are really blessed to have such a great boardI couldn’t do what I do without their support,” says Traci. “We want kids to know that the library is a safe space - to ask questions, to come sit in the quiet, listen to music, read, color….everyone is welcome here.”