Newspaper Page Text
THE ISLANDER, NOVEMBER 17, 2008, PAGE 7
Change at Library
Continued from Page 6
Training Center and other local busi
nesses.
The money raised by doing videos
for the businesses helped fund the free
video work for non-profit organiza
tions like the YWCA and the Humane
Society.
After Channel 21 TV station opened
in Brunswick, the library’s video
department was slowly discontinued.
“It was not our mission or desire to
compete with the private sector,” said
Shinnick.
After that Shinnick took a job as
the head of the audio visual depart
ment at the Baha’i World Center in
Haifa, Israel.
The Shinnicks moved to Israel for
five years and were there during the
Gulf war.
They returned to the states after
a school counselor told them their
daughter was having language dif
ficulty because she heard Hebrew in
school, Russian from the children she
played with and English from her par
ents at home at night.
“Israel is a hard place to live,” said
Shinnick, “you either love it or hate
it. There’s no middle ground, it can be
a magical, fascinating place or it can
be awful. The people can be gruff and
direct to the point of rudeness, but
under that exterior they are the kind
est people you’ll ever meet. They will
give you the shirt off their back. And
driving? Well, driving in Tel Aviv is
like a combat mission.”
The Shinnicks came back to the
Brunswick Library in 1993 and Joe
worked for Jim Darby running the
bookmobile.
“That was a great experience,” said
Shinnick, “the bookmobile is much
more personalized than working, say
at the check out desk. You really get
to know the people.”
1997 brought yet another change
and Shinnick moved to Savannah to
work for Murray Wilson who had a TV
computer business whose main clients
were Direct TV and A Sky B, which
was owned by Rupert Murdoch.
Shinnick spent time in Japan train
ing employees for Direct TV and when
that job was over came back to Savan
nah to work on the A Sky B project.
Since Murdoch was a newspaper
publisher, his TV competitors made
it difficult for him through the FCC,
so Murdoch gave up A Sky B and
Joe went to work for the Savannah
Library System in the Liberty County
branch.
In 1999, Jim Darby called again
and offered Joe the TRRLS Assistant
Director’s position, which also includ
ed managing the Brunswick branch.
After stepping up to the Director’s
job in 2005, Joe is now ready to take
it easy.
“My official last day on the payroll
will probably be Nov. 21,” said Joe
with a smile, “but as I told Leslie, I’m
not really going anywhere, I just want
to work a little less. After I take some
time off to spend with my grandchil
dren, I plan to come back as a library
volunteer. Public libraries are great
and I really love this one.”
Jones steps up
The new TRRLS Director, Leslie
Jones was born in Jacksonville and
grew up in Orange Park.
She told The Islander last week,
“Reading has always been a big part
of my life.”
After graduating from high school
at 17 Jones was still eligible to be an
exchange student, so she spent a year
in Paris going to high school.
She came back to Florida and
enrolled at Florida State where
she received a Bachelor’s degree in
French.
After graduating from FSU, Jones
took a job in Tulsa, Oklahoma at
national headquarters for the Junior
Chamber of Commerce.
“I’ve lived in Tulsa for nine years,”
said Jones, “It’s where I first started
working in libraries, although both
my parents were readers and I spent
my summers as a kid in library read
ing programs.”
Returning to college at the Univer
sity of Oklahoma, Jones received her
Library Science degree in 2001.
“I started in the Tulsa county library
system in the adult literacy service,
which led me to take library science
at Oklahoma. When I started in the
library, I realized, 1 can do this.’ And
after one class at Oklahoma, I was
asked to run a library branch while I
finished my degree. So I’ve been work
ing in libraries for over 12 years and
I’ve been reading all my life.”
“I’ve always had good strong men
tors in the libraries I’ve worked in, so
that has helped me a lot in my devel
opment,” said Jones.
After six years in Tulsa, Jones
decided to move back to Florida.
“I wanted to be closer to family,”
she explained, “I had no family in
Oklahoma. Plus, Oklahoma winters
are hard on a Florida girl. It always
gets down into the 20s and teens.
Not to mention the tornadoes in the
spring.”
Moving back to Florida, Jones took
a job with the Pasco County Library
System, just north of Tampa.
The Pasco library system, like Tul
sa’s, is a single county system with
seven branches, although Tulsa, a
larger urban area, had 24 branches.
While TRRLS covers seven coun
ties and has 10 branches there are a
lot of similarities to Pasco, according
to Jones.
Both are fast growing coastal coun
ties that feature both urban and rural
areas. They both have a large number
of retirees and ‘snow birds.’
“I have experience in a library sys
tem that is responding to commu
nity growth,” said Jones, “I bring that
experience to Glynn which is also in a
growth mode.”
Jones started in the Pasco system
as a reference coordinator before mov
ing up to Collection Services Coordi
nator (CSC).
As the CSC Jones was in charge of
all formats of materials, books, audio,
DVD and electronic data bases.
“I was responsible for the entire
collection in Pasco,” Jones explained,
“the selection process, receiving, cata
loging. Everything to get the materials
in the building and on the shelves.”
Overseeing a full time staff of 11
employees, Jones was responsible for
$1.4 million of the library system’s
overall annual budget of $8 million.
“I have a strong background in pub
lic finance management,” said Jones,
“I am used to working with and being
responsible for multi-million dollar
budgets. I’m used to budget planning
and since Florida libraries are true
county government departments, I’m
used to planning budgets and present
ing them to the funding agencies for
approval.”
“Libraries aren’t just about books
any more,” said Jones, “computers are
huge resources, kids and kid’s pro
grams are important. It’s important
to reach children at an early age for
literacy that will be necessary for job
skills later in life. We’re very involved
in arts and the community. Libraries
do a lot of different things, more than
you might know. If you don’t work
here you might not realize everything
we do.”
Jones was also very appreciative of
Shinnick who she said has been very
gracious in helping her get up to speed
on the new job.
Not one to sit around, Ms. Jones
has two, twin foster children a little
over a year old for whom she was
granted permanent guardianship ear
lier this year.
She is also very involved with
disaster relief for animals and helping
find homes for pets abandoned during
Hurricane Katrina.
While the Brunswick Glynn County
Public Library and the Three Rivers
Regional Library System are losing a
wonderful Director in Joe Shinnick,
the reins of management seem to have
been passed to very capable hands in
Leslie Jones. □
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