Foote fills new shoes at Gibson Memorial Library

Jordan Foote, programming specialist at Gibson Memorial Library began his post at the library three weeks ago and said he is eager to build on and realize it’s mission. Foote’s programs will not materialize until at least November, he said, but his main service will be promoting new and existing programming at the library and helping other staff members with their needs.

“Well, it’s a brand-new position with the library that the city of Creston kind of bestowed upon the library, so there is a little bit of molding that his position will have, but generally, what it will be is coordinating with the other programming position, the children’s programming coordinator and Donna [Walsh,] the teen programming coordinator, coordinating with them, making sure they have the resources that they need for the programs that they come up with, helping them get the things they need, giving them ideas if they need them,” he said.

The programming specialist was created to help relieve the burden of other library employees to achieve better customer service for the library.

“With the library, we don’t have a huge staff, we don’t have a lot of room, so when we do have staff members here, mostly they’re kind of spent helping the patrons of the library doing everyday library duties,” Foote said. “So, for example Sue [Sue Teutsch, assistant director and children’s librarian] and Donna, Donna does inter-library loans and that takes up a lot of her time during the day, she’s part-time, and so she doesn’t have a bunch of time in the day to fully plan out her programs or execute them or market them the way she would like. So this position was created to kind of help them really achieve the programs they want to do and the programs the library wants to do because they don’t have a lot of time, like I said.”

Foote, a native of Afton, graduated from Drake University in 2017 with a bachelor’s in marketing and had multiple marketing internships and full-time positions after getting his diploma. He said Gibson Memorial’s mission lines up with his values and philosophy.

“I’m a person that really appreciates lifelong learning and becoming more cultured with, whether it be arts, knowledge, music, anything in that kind of field, just constantly learning,” he said. “I’m a person that truly believes that a person should be constantly learning and expanding their skillsets or just creating a better life for themselves and that is what the library is here to do, to kind of help people, even just live better every day or just expand their knowledge and experiences and just become all-around better people, I love that, that’s something I try to strive for and I believe in the mission, I think it’s really important for Union County to achieve that.”

Foote said broadening the perspective of Union County residents should be a pillar of Gibson Memorial’s goal for the community.

“We are a smaller library, we are a rural area and so, what we do specifically, and I’ve been here for three weeks, so I haven’t got the full experience of the library, but I grew up here, like I said, I visited this library when I grew up, I came here for the summer reading program every summer, and this library, specifically, has just been here to help people do the things they need to do to have a successful everyday life,” he said. “We help a lot of people with work, applying for jobs, helping with resumes when we need to, getting access to the internet, Union County specifically doesn’t have great access to the internet or high-speed internet and so those needs is what this library is really good at furthering.”

Modernizing the library in the community also includes building the skillsets of patrons.

“I think also it’s very important for people in this area to experience other kinds of other people’s experience that they wouldn’t normally experience to kind of grow their repertoire of not-everyday-skills you would come across here in Union County. So, what I’m wanting to do with this position specifically with this position is to really introduce some programs that I think the county and this library really haven’t had in the past, I don’t know exactly what that will be, we’re still kind of in the early stages of planning some things and brainstorming, but I think some really cool things would be beneficial to the community, but then also fully serving any of the needs the patrons have.”

When Foote arrived, Gibson Memorial’s September and October programs were already fleshed out, but he wants to do programs that address poverty in Union County.

“I would love to do, possibly, a clothing swap. I’ve seen ones in the past where people bring clothing they can get rid of and people come and get whatever they want, which clothing, whatever. I think that could be a great program that the county could use. Aric [library director Aric Bishop] always talks about how a lot of Union County is still in the poverty bracket and it’s not talked about much and there are a lot of people in this community that can’t normally afford decent clothing.”

However, Foote is dedicated to broadening the library’s age demographic to better continue it’s legacy and increase it’s base of support.

“We’ll also have some other programs that are fun too,” he said. “Some more, I hate to use the word millennial, maybe a bit more millennial programming, we do have a lot of the patrons that come in are younger kids, or some teens and then some older folk, so it would be great to get that 20-40 age range back in the library and rediscover all the services the library has, reading, or more of what we offer. I would like to get a good distribution of age ranges back in the library, I think that would be really be special.”

Foote also looks to provide programming that help seniors build connections with each other and mobilize people again during this stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I had a really nice older patron come in this week saying how she was retired and there weren’t really any socializing options for older folks around here to just talk about their experiences being retired and the depression that can come from that.”