ANOKA COUNTY, Minn. – (Jan. 18, 2018) – Maggie Snow has always loved to read, but that is not what made her choose her career path in libraries.
“I actually came to libraries because I like to research,” said Snow.
Maggie has known since high school that she wanted to pursue a career working in libraries. And as she prepared to go to college she discovered that she had many options of what to study to achieve her career goals.
“Really you can go to college for anything there are all kinds of specialties in libraries…I studied legal research actually. I worked in several academic law libraries before I moved to public libraries,” said Snow.
Related Links
Maggie loves many things about her job as the director of the Anoka County Library system but she is invigorated by knowing that everyday will bring new discoveries.
“I get to learn something new every day. I work with really terrific people who are smart and curious…there are just new questions to answer every day,” said Snow.
Maggie is just starting her third year as director and this role does bring some challenges.
“I’m learning to use my brain in a new way. I’m learning about budgets and learning about how the intricacies of government work,” said Snow.
Maggie has watched how libraries and library users have changed over the last two decades. She illustrated these changes with a story from her early days working in libraries.
“I remember when I first started many years ago. I was working in a library in Missouri and I worked on Thursday nights. And every Thursday night I would get a call from a local bar solving bar bets for people. That kind of trivial information is now available on your phone,” said Snow.
In Anoka County there are nine libraries with a total of 500,000 items available. Last year 1.4 million people used the library services. With the addition of new items, such as the very popular board game collection, the role of libraries is ever evolving. But, Maggie still loves when she gets to connect the right reader with just the right book.
“Finding that right book at the right time for the right reader is truly a delight,” said Snow.
As Maggie puts it libraries will always be a part of the fabric of our communities.
“I think a library is a vital resource to the economic, education and cultural life of a community. Truly we are a place of transformation. We are community builders, we are teachers and we are researchers. I think that is important to have in the community,” said Snow.