Mary is one of the unsung heroes at Main Library. Since October 2023, she has quietly contributed over 500 hours behind the scenes in Learning Services, helping both the youth and adult programming teams. She has done it all: prepping crafts, organizing supplies, taking inventory, entering surveys, and much more. In addition, she is a critical member of the Jax Stacks team, distributing prizes and compiling data for the year-end report. She's a whiz with pivot tables! Mary also volunteered with the radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging projects at Highlands, San Marco, and Main Libraries, prepped and assembled zine-making kits for the Duval Comic and Zine (DCAZ) Fest, and was one of the registration teams at this year's Jax Book Fest.
What inspired you to volunteer for the library?
I always liked the library as a kid and thought it would be interesting and fun to volunteer.
What is the most rewarding part about volunteering for the library?
All the people I meet as I move around main library. I start at the security desk and then go to the third floor admin for parking validation before making my way to the conference level and Learning Services.
Is there anything you've learned about the library since becoming a volunteer that you wish more people knew about?
Wow, so much. How beautiful the Main Library is. The different services like Kanopy and Hoopla. The Memory Lab and genealogy assistance in Special Collections. All the behind the scene data collecting from surveys.
You recently traveled to Alaska. How was the trip?
I loved it! My favorite part was getting to go out with a dog sled team.
