Member Spotlight: Jane Fisher

Posted by benniefinch on August 16th, 2021 Posted in: Blog
Tags: Member Spotlight

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Member Spotlight – Jane Fisher from Wallingford Public Library

Jane Fisher has been the Director of Wallingford Public Library (WPL) in Wallingford, CT since 2013. I had the opportunity to sit down with Jane to talk about her career experience, her experience working with NNLM, and some of the exciting work happening at Wallingford Public Library.

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Jane shared that she wanted to be a journalist as she has always loved to write and to read good writing.

Jane spoke about her career path and her connection to the NNLM.

Jane’s first job in libraries was as a page in the Cheshire Public Library during high school, but her first career was as a health care and nursing home administrator. After serving as administrator for a while, she realized that she wanted to work with people of all ages and that she wanted to do that in the library. Jane went to school for her MLIS in Madison, Wisconsin and returned to New York where she worked as a librarian in the New York Public Library (NYPL) branches.

During her time at NYPL she became very involved with Consumer Health Information. While this was already a specialty of the Midtown Branch, through a grant from NLM, Jane took on the position of Consumer Health Librarian, to assist the branch librarians in supporting patrons to find good quality health information. Jane also helped librarians to gain certification in consumer health information and in medical terminology through the Medical Library Association, and she provided training on internet searching for health information. Jane also assisted branches in developing good quality reference collections and providing outreach. Jane got a second master’s degree during this time in public administration, and she completed an independent study in health literacy as part of the program.

Jane was working in this capacity at the time MedlinePlus was being developed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), so Jane was one of a group of public librarians invited to visit the NLM in Bethesda, MD to provide feedback.

What is one word you would use to describe NNLM?

Collaborative

What are some things that you would like to share with other Network Members?

Jane shared that Wallingford Public Library loves partnering with agencies in the community and shared a few examples. Under the previous director and continuing with Jane, the WPL hosts the Wallingford Community Resource Alliance. This was first created in partnership with the Early Childhood Alliance and the Liberty Bank Foundation. This is a group of health and human service organizations, non-profits, town departments, and funders who work together in support of the community. Meeting once every other month, sometimes in the library, visiting each other’s spaces, or recently virtually, they think together about community needs, at times pulling data from health assessments from other organizations.

The Alliance has worked together to apply for grants and other funding to support projects such as funding a fulltime social worker at Wallingford Emergency Housing Shelter and creating Summer Youth Employment opportunities. Some of the organizations have also done information tabling in the library to support the community.

Jane says that partnering with agencies is one of the most satisfying parts of public librarianship.

Wallingford Public Library recently partnered with Hartford Healthcare to provide a COVID Vaccine clinic which was very successful. They also partnered with the Spanish Community of Wallingford who had representatives onsite during the clinic to welcome patrons and to offer translation assistance for patrons who had questions for the medical personnel.

Wallingford Public Library also has strong partnerships with the Senior Center and with the Public Health Department. Jane shared that the Senior Center has a very busy programming schedule. In partnership with the Wallingford Public Health Department, similar to the above COVID vaccine clinic, the library historically hosts drive-thru flu shot clinics.

According to Jane, the library board is very supportive of library staff participating in community partnerships allowing herself and other staff to be part of community collaborations.

What is one of the coolest things about Wallingford Public Library?

The Collaboratory is Wallingford’s community makerspace, digital media lab, and coworking space. The Collaboratory offers a plethora of tools from co-working space with a Microsoft Surface Hub, to a soundproof booth for phone calls and recording, a green screen, a community loom, 3D printer, a laser cutter, an embroidery machine, a long-arm quilting machine, musical instruments, a station to convert traditional media to digital, and many more.

This area was so popular that families asked for a similar space for children which is called the Wonder Room.   

The library itself is a living example of how the library embodies much of the town culture and history.

Walking around the library, you can visit a tile mural giving a history of Wallingford in ceramic pictures. There is also another piece which was created by compiling photos of town buildings and places and creating one piece (Jane Fisher is pictured with a small portion of this collage above.) In the children’s room, you can follow the train track rug, to a playhouse replica of the Wallingford Train Station.

 

These are just a few of the many cool things happening at the Wallingford Public Library!