Connecting with young readers of all ages is what attracted Joyce Laoisa to Voorheesville Public Library around 16 years ago. Although a library’s role has changed over time, her mission to inspire children remained steadfast.
Laoisa started out at Bethlehem Public Library while studying for her master’s degree. A larger library, though, usually assigns a children’s librarian to a particular age range, and Laoisa was interested in working with all ages. She didn’t have to look far to find the job she wanted.
“At a big library, you have to choose to work with young children or teens, but at Voorheesville, I could do both,” Laoisa said.
Gail Sacco, the director of Voorheesville Public Library who hired Laoisa to be director of Youth and Family Services, said she was perfect for the position.
“Joyce is very creative, and she has that gift of seeing the library through the eyes of the child,” Sacco said. “There are people that work with kids that always see themselves as adults and the kids as kids, but it is a gift to be able to see somebody through their eyes. She does that with kids and … with kids of all ages.”
Voorheesville library will hold a retirement party for Laoisa on Sunday, Dec. 8, from 3 to 5 p.m. in its community room. Anyone is welcome to attend, and there will be light refreshments and holiday cookies.
Mary Fellows, regional consultant for Youth Services of Upper Hudson Library System, said she is going to miss Laoisa as a colleague and praised her work with the community.
“She is very innovative in her work at Voorheesville Public Library,” Fellows said. “She takes risks and tries new things. She connects very creatively with her community, and in doing all of these things, she is a role model for local librarians.”
Fellows said Laoisa has mentored many colleagues in the Upper Hudson Library system and has reached out to other libraries and “very generously” offered her experience, knowledge and help.
“She has shown them what it is to be an active, creative professional librarian and give wonderful service to your community,” Fellows said. “She passionately cares about kids, tweens and teens, and it is her mission to help them really enjoy the best literature and the best experiences that a public library can offer.”
Sacco said Laoisa expanded the breadth of children and family services at the library, including offering more parenting resources and paying more attention to tweens and teens.
Laoisa said libraries are where new parents go to find a network of people to support them and also begin to see the library as a part of the community.
“It gets you in the rhythm that libraries are places to meet, talk and get to know each other,” Laoisa said. “I feel that (libraries) are a part of the community and they are a resource for the community.”
Reaching out and connecting with an increasingly tech-savvy community, particularly children, is no easy task, too.
“The fact that people are so involved with television, videos on YouTube and Netflix, they sometimes fail to realize all of the offerings a library has,” Laoisa said.
Fellows said Laoisa was great at finding a book to connect with any reader.
“She is an extraordinary book talker,” Fellows said. “If you want to know what to read next, no matter what age you are, she is the person to go to.”
Laoisa said whenever she had a new idea or program to try out, Sacco would welcome her suggestion.
Shortly after starting at Voorheesville, Laoisa was able to get an American Library Association exhibit incorporating math and picture books. Laoisa said she was always be looking for grant opportunities to expand the library’s offerings.
Sacco also pointed to a quilting program she brought to the library called Nimble Fingers and worked to develop a Junior Nimble Fingers group to teach children the craft.
Laoisa also worked closely with librarians and teachers at Voorheesville Central School District, Sacco said.
One program at the middle school has students picking out books they wanted to read and then reviewing the book, with the reviews posted on the library’s website. Sacco said this helped children learn to evaluate what they read and present their ideas.
Laoisa said she has learned to become more understanding of not only children, but parents as well.
“I think over the years, I really grew to appreciate how hard parents work to get kids to library programs and take them out and help them pick out books,” she said. “Parents are really trying so hard to do the best for the kids.”
Laoisa said she is “going to miss a lot,” but it’s time for her to retire.
“I am going to miss seeing the children,” she said. “I am going to miss the collaboration with librarians.”
She is looking forward to seeing her grandchildren in Wisconsin whenever she wants and also freeing up her summers, which were consumed by the popular reading program. She has two grandchildren and three sons. She and her husband, David, have spent the majority of their married life in the Town of Bethlehem.
Laoisa will still be connected to young readers in retirement, because she will be serving on the Association for Library Service to Children’s Notable Books for Children Selection Committee.