Come to the Kent County Library and meet Natalie Lane, the new Children’s and Youth Services Librarian. The library conducted a national search for this important position and found Natalie in Florida. A native of Chile, Natalie immigrated with her family to Florida when she was a baby. Her parents were political refugees during Pinochet’s regime.
Natalie studied English and French at the University of Florida, and she earned her master’s degree in Library Science at Florida State. For the last five years she has worked as a children’s librarian in a public library in Ocala, Florida.
Natalie says that her father told her wonderful stories, but she was not much of a reader until she was 12 years old, when she got hooked on a book about Scottish clans. After that, she started reading “everything.” She identifies with children who don’t like to read. She has already started to do outreach in order to encourage more children and teens to read. Finding just the right book for reluctant readers can turn them into avid readers. Natalie has found that some of the new graphic novels engage reluctant readers. She will be working with the HOYAS (Helping Our Youth Achieve Success) during the summer, and she will be building a Spanish language collection at the library.
One of Natalie’s responsibilities is choosing new books for the library. The young adult genre has exploded in recent years, so she sometimes has to make difficult choices.
Natalie and her husband Matthew Lane live in Chestertown and look forward to becoming part of the community. Matthew is a consumer advocacy lawyer based in Washington, D.C.
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