Olivia Larsen, former assistant at the Chilmark Free Public Library, was recently named the new director of the Aquinnah Public Library. Ms. Larsen, who started as director on Sept. 19, takes the place of Lisa Sherman, the new director at the Edgartown Library.
Ms. Larsen, an Island native, said she is excited about the new role, and already has a number of plans for the library.
“To start, my plans are to learn more about the community and some of the traditions and informational services that they value, and once I get a grasp of that information, I would like to take the steps necessary to meet their needs,” she said Tuesday. “I understand that programming is a big value of this community, so I would like to do whatever I can to support educational and recreational programming.”
She said she wants to promote the library as a community resource.
“I understand that this is sort of the hub of the community; this is where everyone gathers, and I want to create opportunities for people to come together,” she said.
After graduating with a degree in English and education from Lasell College, Ms. Larsen took the library assistant job in Chilmark.
“The job at Chilmark opened up, and I was willing to give it a try, and I learned that I loved library work so much because I got to work with people of all different ages and interests and backgrounds,” she said.
It interested her so much, she pursued her master’s degree in library science from the Drexel University online program, which she completed last December. She said she’s looking forward to applying her education to the new role.
“I’ve been looking at ways to advance my career and apply what I learned in school to a library,” Ms. Larsen said. “As an assistant, I was able to connect what I was learning to a real library, but I wasn’t really able to apply some of the concepts that I had learned.”
Now, she’s ready to move forward with her new job.
“I just want to say that I am really excited and honored to be serving this community,” she said. “I’m glad that I get to be involved in libraries.”
