Danielle Balzan
Slingerlands
Occupation: Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce service member
Question:What skills do you bring to your tenure on the board?
Answer: As an experienced facilitator, I am able to assist groups to achieve their goals by sorting through obstacles, considering all points of view, and constructing a plan of action that is amiable to all parties. For a board to be successful, the skills of its members and supportive committees need to be utilized and appreciated in order to take effective steps to meet its mission.
Q. What do you consider your most meaningful career accomplishment?
A. My most meaningful career accomplishment was to be appointed Director of Guidance at a public high school. In this capacity, I founded a Career Center and was the given the responsibility to design the master schedule. The master schedule is developed around student needs, district goals, staff qualifications and certifications, and budgetary constraints.
Q. What are your goals as a library board member?
A. To promote the Bethlehem Public Library as a place of learning, cultural appreciation, and community engagement for people of all ages.
Q. How does a public library best serve its community?
A. A town’s public library best serves its community as a center for maintaining archives of local records and memorabilia and a place to display artwork and materials of local interest. Additionally a library should provide study areas for individuals and groups.
Q. What are the most important issues facing public libraries today?
A. The availability of digital media is a challenge to the traditional print book. However, I think a more pressing issue is the speed at which new information is produced and how a library is to manage and disseminate that information.
Q. How are public libraries changing?
A. Libraries are progressing from quiet settings of individual academic pursuits to centers of active learning experiences. Training for job seekers and orientation of digital and technological resources are examples of innovative ways library programming has changed.
Q. How have libraries influenced your life?
A. Until I was an adult with young children, I would never have thought of a local public library as a desirable place to spend my free time. Then, when a family member was seriously ill, I hired a babysitter to watch the kids, and I headed off to the library to research the disease. As soon as I entered the front doors, I realized that children were welcome and so was I. I was impressed when a librarian walked out from behind the desk to help me find what I needed. From that moment on, I realized that public libraries were places where anyone, at any stage of life, could make discoveries.
Q. What do you like best about the Bethlehem Public Library?
A. What I look forward to the most when going to the library is the overall atmosphere. Bethlehem Public Library possesses a vibrant environment that is stimulating and welcoming.
