This week we are celebrating Kathy Wiese, Assistant Library Director, and her 25 years of service to the Frankenmuth Wickson District Library. As of November 9, 2024, Kathy will attain the longest tenure of any employee in Wickson Library history. In honor of this huge milestone, I sat down with Kathy and asked her a few questions about her experience.
When Kathy began at Wickson Library in 1999, her initial role as Library Assistant included performing check out procedures, helping people find books, and making copies. In 2006, Kathy was promoted to Assistant Director where she began the work of cataloging, a method of entering books into the library’s databases, which she continues to do today.
While Kathy’s job isn’t front and center like some library programming, the library would cease to exist without this important and necessary work. “I’m not the front man,” Kathy says. “Nobody sees what I do. I don’t do programing or crafts, but I do a lot behind the scenes.” In fact, former Library Director Mary Chasseur once told Kathy that she was “the guts of the operation.” If books aren’t entered into the system, patrons can’t check them out.
Three main ways Kathy has seen the library change over the past 25 years are technology, budget, and interlibrary loans. Going from the old card catalog that required a 3X5 index card to be filled out for each book to a computerized system in 2005 was a big change for librarians. “We were one of the first libraries to join MeL, the statewide interlibrary loan system for books,” says Kathy. “We had to weed through all our old books, and then we had to log every book’s barcode number into the system. We were excited to have more diversity and access to books.”
In terms of the budget, Kathy says, “Twenty-five years ago, the library was a line item on the city budget, and the library never made out very well.” For the first 7 years of Kathy’s time at Wickson, she remembers the library not being able to afford much in terms of programming. The library was only able to offer summer reading and story time, unless the Friends of the Library were able to help by sponsoring a program. In 2008, however, the library millage went through, providing more free events and programming sessions for all ages.
The last major change Kathy has seen at Wickson over the years is the amount of interlibrary loans processed per month. “We did 3 or 4 a month back then,” Kathy says, “and now we do hundreds a month.”
Kathy has simple but significant hopes for the future of the Wickson Library. Her biggest hope is that the library will “keep on instilling a love of reading in future generations and keep the community coming back and wanting more.” Kathy continues, “We’re more of that community hub now, and I hope to see this continue, too.”
In her 25 years of service, Kathy has seen generations of kids grow up in the library. “When I started at the library, there was one little girl, Hannah, who came to the reading program faithfully, and then 20 years later, she walked in, and she was an adult woman using our services.” This was a pivotal moment in Kathy’s career because it felt like her work and the library’s mission to instill a love of reading into future generations had come full circle. “It’s just very rewarding to see the love of the library continue through generations.”
The same love of reading that inspired Kathy to fill out an application for a part-time position at the Wickson District Library in 1999 is why Kathy continues to work at the library today. As we celebrate Kathy Wiese's remarkable 25 years of service to the Frankenmuth Wickson District Library, we express our deepest gratitude for her faithful dedication and behind-the-scenes efforts that have been the backbone of our library's success. Her contributions have not only shaped the library's development but have also nurtured a love of reading in countless community members over the years. We are truly fortunate to have Kathy as part of our library family, and we hope to have her for many years to come.
Comments