Carnegie Carnegie: Working from home, far from home
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Serving Carnegie as the assistant director of the Andrew Carnegie Free Library is a job I take very seriously. I started as an intern from Pitt a little over 10 years ago. First I became smitten with our gorgeous building. Then, very quickly, I began to fall in love with the community — so much so that I turned that internship into a full time job and moved to Carnegie. I never planned to stay in Pittsburgh after I got my master’s degree.
I’m a preacher’s son from down South. I’d lived nearly all my life in Tennessee, and thought I‘d be heading back home after I got my degree.
Life had other plans for me though. I became so embedded in the community where I live and work that I never left. Carnegie has become my home. I love my job . And I met my beautiful wife here.
When all this virus business started, we at the library were worried about the same things that everyone else was — how will this affect family, paychecks, bills, food, etc. And then the coronavirus came directly to us, just as it did for so many others.
The state told us to go home and not to return to our beloved library until further notice. We were devastated. How in the world can our library be here for our patrons if it’s physically shut down? I am not the only Carnegie resident who works at “AC Free.” We know what our library means to this community because it means the same to us.
As luck would have it, we had just hired a new library director, Walker Evans. Poor fella, what a seemingly awful time to step into a leadership role in a new job. But, Walker came well-armed with a game plan. His approach was that if we can’t be here for our patrons in person, we’ll think of every other way to be available.
Access to information is more important than ever. We’re making sure our CarnegieCarnegie.org website is updated with the latest about covid-19, voting, the census, etc. We’re offering programming like story times and Civil War lectures with guest presenters on Facebook Live. Library phone calls are forwarded to our personal phones; we’re taking calls from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. We even offer a “chat with a librarian” service through our website if computer chatting is your thing.
We’re as determined as ever to connect with and to serve our community during this time of crisis. We’re still here.
I answer the phones every afternoon. Callers are surprised when someone on my end answers. I always have to explain that I am responsibly staying at home. One of my coworker’s assignments is to go through our lists of patrons and call them — just to say hello, to make sure they’re hangin’ in there, and to let them know we’re available.
For 119 years, our beautiful library has drawn both regular and sometime users for a lot more than books. We provide a space for people to learn, entertain themselves and to connect with staff and their neighbors. For now, that space is not available. But library staff and services are still very available.
We’ve been fielding reference calls, walking folks through downloading books, movies and other technology issues, as well as answering lots of general information questions. Some patrons are feeling a little overwhelmed. I have looked up a lot of phone numbers in these recent weeks. We’re connecting people with the resources they need.
Connectivity works both ways. I get up like usual every day and shower, dress and prepare work. I attend Zoom meetings, watch professional development webinars and man the phone and the online chat. Once a week, I go to the library to check on mail and other deliveries and the amazing deep cleaning and repair work our maintenance man is doing. Our facility is being well taken care of.
I am proud that the best of my ability, I can be here to help anyone who reaches out. Your calling and asking for help or just to check in, as many folks have started doing, helps me maintain a sense of purpose. Thank you. We truly are all in this together and please don’t forget, your library misses you just as much as you miss us. We can’t wait to be serving you in person again.
Nate Wyrick is the assistant director of the Andrew Carnegie Free Library.