Carson City library director in it for the long haul

With two years on the job, Carson City Library Director Joy Holt has no plans to leave, and she is busy as ever, she told the Appeal on Monday.

“We just have a lot going on every week,” Holt said, mentioning story time, adult and teen activities and the upcoming summer reading program that kicks off June 8.

Holt’s annual performance evaluation by the Library Board of Trustees was postponed to June 13, she said. There are two open positions on the same board that oversees library policy and what Holt said amounts to a roughly $2 million annual budget.

Those interested can apply online: https://www.carson.org/government/boards-committees-and-commissions/volunteer-opportunities. The application deadline is May 22.

At 48, Holt, a fifth-generation Nevadan who grew up in Winnemucca, talked about the critical importance of libraries to communities rural and urban. The Carson City Library straddles both designations, and Holt stressed the need for free available information in a communal hub, from traditional stacks to the library’s digital space with booths, beanbags and wireless internet.

“We’re a well-used library,” she said. “We have a very high circulation volume for our size.”

Holt said the library will need more space in the future, whether it be a new building, an addition/remodel or a satellite location.

“Eventually, just logically, if we continue to be as busy as we are, we will need more space,” she said.

In the meantime, Holt and library staff utilize existing space the best they can. They’re also focusing on growing and fine-tuning programming. On May 2, the Carson City Board of Supervisors approved a $1.47 million interlocal contract between the library and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) for a workforce development program.

The state award lasts only two years, but Holt hopes the program will flourish with the library’s own staff and resources into the future. The program includes virtual reality field trips for people to orient themselves to different career paths in Nevada’s burgeoning industries.

“These VR headsets, which are wireless, have come a long way,” she said, adding patrons will be able to check out the headsets.

Holt anticipated the GOED program would come together by midsummer. And of course, she wanted a big turnout for the summer reading program designed for all ages. Summer reading, she said, prevents “learning lag” and exponentially increases one’s vocabulary.

The summer reading kickoff is slated for noon to 4 p.m. June 8. The wrap-up party will be Aug. 17. The goal last year, for those logging minutes, was 600,000 minutes community-wide, Holt said.

“And our community read approximately 715,000,” she said. “So, we bumped it to 800,000 this year.”

The theme this summer is “travel through time” with a focus on history. Those who complete the reading program will be entered into a raffle. The grand prize last year was a Nintendo Switch.

Holt also highlighted the library’s long relationship with Friends of the Carson City Library, a nonprofit that runs the adjacent Browsers Corner Bookstore and supports literacy programs like the summer reading series.

“Browsers is the only bookstore in town anymore,” Holt said. “It’s totally volunteer run.”

More information can be found at https://friendscclibrary.org/browser-corner-book-store/.

When asked what she loves about her job, Holt said, “We get to have such an impact on our community, a direct impact that we do get to see as well.”

The library’s main website is https://carsoncitylibrary.org/.