Printer Friendly Version - Stephanie Romano: New Face at the Chester Library

It’s not all about books for new Chester Library Director Stephanie Romano (though, to be fair, it’s still a lot about books). Stephanie sees the library as a community center for things like the upcoming Zentangle drawing program on Tuesday, Aug. 1. Photo by Rita Christopher/The Courier

Stephanie Romano has an unusual problem for a librarian: she has no time to read—that is, no time to read when she gets home from work.

Stephanie took over earlier this month after the retirement of longtime library head Linda Fox.

She is still learning about the library, everything from policy and procedures to meeting patrons. Everybody, she adds, has been very welcoming. Fox gave her some good advice before leaving.

“She told me not to try to do everything at once; to get to know the library first,” Stephanie says.

In the mornings Stephanie works in an office on the second floor of Chester Town Hall doing a variety of library-related tasks: filling out grant applications, checking reviews of new books, and deciding what to order as well as keeping up with official email traffic. Fox used do that kind of administrative work at home, but First Selectman Lauren Gister suggested that Stephanie use a local site.

“It’s really hard to get all that done in the library; you’re interrupted all the time for other things that need to be done,” she explains.

For those whose memories stretch back to the days of hushed whispers and reminders from the librarian to maintain quiet, today’s library is a changed place.

“It’s more like a community center,” Stephanie says. “No more shushers.”

Stephanie would like to see the Chester library continue to grow as a place where residents of all ages feel comfortable meeting, chatting, reading the newspaper, and going to programs.

She would like to forge stronger connections with other community institutions like the Chester Historical Society and Chester Village West. She is particularly interested in developing programs for young adults, an age group, she points out, that it is hard to attract to the library.

Upcoming this summer is a program that should resonate with anyone who has ever squiggled in the margins anywhere from a high school class to a business meeting: Zentangle, a drawing exercise in which people create their own designs with colored pencils.

The Zentangle program is Monday, Aug. 1 from 6 to 8 with a drop-in format for which participants don’t need to sign up.

There will be two fall book discussions moderated by Marsha Bansavage, a discussion facilitator for the Connecticut Humanities Council. On Tuesday, Sept. 27, the book will be Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann and on Tuesday, Oct. 25, Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson.

Stephanie, who grew up in Old Saybrook, did not take a traditional path to becoming a librarian. For 12 years, she worked in customer service for a business in Madison, but her particular responsibilities brought her into increasing contact with the corporate librarian. That, in turn, led to her own decision to study library science.

She started with courses at Middlesex Community College, then transferred to Southern Connecticut State University. It took her seven years to get her bachelor’s degree in library science and, after taking a break from school, she next earned a master’s degree, also in library science, from Kent State University through an online program.

She says that online study is not an anonymous process, nor a faceless one. Students submit biographies and pictures so other classmates know who they are and as they go through many classes together, they come to know one another if only at a distance. The main ingredient for success in an online program, Stephanie observes, is the same as the ingredient for success in any program: discipline.

“You have to be able to sit at the computer for three or four hours,” shee says, adding that she did not regret the time. “It was my goal. This was what I wanted.”

As she was nearing the end of the work for her master’s degree in 2015, her longtime companion died of pancreatic cancer.

“One thing he said to me was how important it was that I finish,” she recalls.

Before coming to Chester, Stephanie was the access services manager at the Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library in Old Lyme for nine years, where her varied responsibilities included overseeing both volunteers and the circulation staff as researching possible program presenters and evaluating and weeding the library’s collection. At Old Lyme, she says, if a book had not been checked out for five years, it was a candidate for weeding out. At Chester, given the more limited space, that time is usually three years. But the rule is not hard and fast.

“It always depends on the author and the title; whether it is a classic,” Stephanie says.

When it comes to her own time, Stephanie is a Food Network fan and a longtime baker. Cookies are her favorites to bake because she can do several different batters and bake them at the same time. She doesn’t have a problem about eating her creations. She tastes the cookies, but says that for snacking, she likes salty things, identifying chips and dips as her downfall.

There is a cookie eater in Stephanie’s family, though, her four-year-old grandson Ryder. In terms of literary tastes, Ryder favors one of the classics of childhood: Curious George.

Stephanie, who now lives in Westbrook, once spent time in California some years ago, but she is glad she moved back to Connecticut.

“My network is here, my family . I love the shoreline,” she says. “Something always draws you back.”