Westerville North High School seniors Noah Hohl and Ali Ali were familiar with Westerville Public Library — until they toured the spaces only available to staff and learned how it functions from behind the scenes.
“The library is a lot more complicated than it first seems,” Ali said.
The two students, along with Westerville Central High School senior Adler Kaufman, explored all aspects of the library as part of its inaugural Shadow Day. During the event, students learned about the variety of careers throughout the various departments at the library. They visited all the departments and met staff members who shared their different life paths that brought them to the library.
“It was fun to share with them the unique skills our staff showcase every day — from creating custom shelving to keep archival materials safe from damage to maintaining over 200 computers throughout the building to operating 3D printers,” said Tamara Murray, marketing manager for the library.
WNHS media specialist Beth Baryon chaperoned the visit, which she said aligns with her personal mission of recruiting future librarians.
“I’m thankful for the Westerville Public Library and that they are thinking about how to encourage our students to get into libraries as a career,” she said. “I hoped the students saw that there’s a lot of paths to the library and they are a great place to work with a lot of interesting people who work there.”
Baryon marveled over the spaces only accessible to staff such as the computer services department and the conveyor belt which sorts returned books. So did Hohl and Ali.
“It was interesting to see how the library runs, who makes the decisions, how things happen,” said Hohl, who plans to study English at Lawrence University to study English.
While he is interested in becoming an editor in the publishing industry, he said he appreciated the opportunity to learn the intricacies of library operations.
Ali, who is undecided on his college plans this fall, the visit opened his eyes to future possibilities.
“I’ve always been interested in books so that’s part of the reason why I chose to go,” he said. “And when I went, I was like, ‘The library looks more complicated than it seems. This seems interesting.’ ”