Meet Sheryl Bass, Director of the Durham Public Library

Meet Sheryl Bass, Durham’s new Library Director.  Her passion shines through.  She is “absolutely psyched for the future of the library.” 

Before starting this position in November, Sheryl was the documents librarian at SubCom (formerly Tyco) in Newington.  SubCom manufactures sub-sea fiber optic cable for intercontinental communications.  Prior to that, she managed a library in Mason, Michigan.  Sheryl has a Master’s Degree from Wayne State University in Detroit in Library and Information Science. 

She was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina and moved around, largely in the south, as her father was in the Air Force.  She is now “home” in New Hampshire.  Sheryl wanted to be a librarian since she was a little girl and was always absorbed in a book.  On being compared to Belle in Beauty and the Beast, she said, “Yes, a romantic book lover.  I can get behind that.”

When Sheryl was seven she discovered the old Portsmouth library (Her father was stationed at Pease Air Force Base).  The librarian let her shelve books, hang out, and stay as long as she wanted and then drove her home in the evening.  Sheryl called her “Miss Margaret” and never knew her last name.  Libraries change lives.  Hers was changed by the love of her first librarian.

Sheryl has had most every job you can have in a library.  She was a selections assistant where her sole function was to “weed” books from the collection.  Nonfiction books, in particular, become obsolete when the information is misleading or no longer accurate.  Fiction has a longer shelf life (literally) but books with cracks in the spine, mildew, and mold will be deselected.  A book may be discarded if it has not been taken out in a long time, but if it is the only volume on a particular subject, such as animal husbandry, it may gain a longer reprieve.  Discarded books are donated to the Salvation Army.

The library regularly weeds its collection.  There is limited space and cluttered shelves are difficult to look through.  Sheryl says the present level of around 33,000+ titles is “comfortable”.  There is room to expand, but the priority is growing circulation and the number of users.  Some residents may not be aware of the library’s many features and services including up-to-date technology, special programs, community space, digital resources, and accessible equipment.

Selecting and preparing books is an intricate process.  “A book goes through as many as 50 touches before it is checked out by a patron.”  The library reviews potential additions with a focus on Durham.  There is particular interest here (very generally, of course) in political tomes, biographies, cookbooks, self-help books, and intellectual nonfiction.  Durham has a high circulation of fiction and many adults read graphic novels (novels with illustrations, like grown-up comic books).  The collection comprises more fiction than nonfiction, though we have more nonfiction titles than most libraries this size.

Durham has a “browse-able collection” inviting patrons to simply explore.  The library keeps the most recent titles, best sellers, and selected classics.   A strategic plan is now underway to “take the temperature of the community and make sure that our services match the reading needs of our patrons.”  However, the library must also maintain a balance and be politically neutral, offering titles on all sides of an issue.

Privacy is fundamental.  “What a person chooses to read is their business.”  The Durham Library does not keep records of what individuals check out. 

The library has access to 3.6 million titles through Overdrive, an electronic database, where one can download books directly to an electronic reader like Kindle.  Surprisingly, Sheryl prefers reading this way, “It’s a matter of convenience and access.  Carrying around 20 books is difficult.  I read whenever I am standing in line.”  She is not a nerd about the style of the bindings, paper or typeface but concedes “There is nothing better than a newly cracked open, brand new book.”

“Libraries will always have print materials as there will always be patrons who like the feel of a book and want to see the words on paper.  But libraries will have to work hard to maintain their value in an ever-evolving digital world.  Libraries are one of the last bastions of democracy in the community.  We take all comers and have a responsibility to be a safe space for ideas.”  A library is no longer a zone where absolute quiet is enforced.  It is now a cornerstone of the community and a bustling hub of information with lively conversations (provided others are not disturbed).

Asked about the portrayal of librarians in the media, such as Marian the Librarian in The Music Man, Sheryl acknowledges the image of a “gray-bunned, shushing, matronly woman.”  The profession does attract introverts “but it really is more about people and customer service now.” 

Sheryl has never shushed a patron and she is not a fan of the mean librarian, but her favorite depiction in a movie is Parker Posey in Party Girl.  Here is a clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzbDdgWiaS0.  She also likes Noah Wiley’s character in the television series The Librarian.  “He is way cooler, like an Indiana Jones of librarians.”

This is Sheryl’s third stint in New Hampshire.  She has always been drawn back here.  “You call home the place that you were happiest.”  Perhaps this is common among military children.  For her brother, a retired colonel in the Air Force, it is Florida.  Sheryl says, “Florida is lovely in ways that are uniquely Florida but it never changes.”  She loves the ocean but prefers ours, which is “so tempestuous.”

She says that Durham’s library is awesome, gorgeous, stunning, well designed, homey, warm, welcoming.  This does sound like her dream job.

Sheryl lives in Dover with her partner and 13-year old son Jeb, a tennis player, poet, and hip hop dancer.  Mystery is her favorite genre, but she reads all genres.  She loves authors Sue Grafton and Stephen King.  Her favorite book is A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.  And, yes, she is in a book group!