Holly Baker
Holly Baker loves what she does- if you need evidence, just look at her lack of down time. Baker has been in charge of Park County’s children’s library since June of 2004 and her enthusiasm and hard work have made the program something the entire community is proud of!
Baker moved to Wyoming from New England where she had taught elementary aged children. She says the choice to become a librarian seemed like a good fit and she has found that working as a librarian allows her to have a broad impact; reaching children, parents, and teachers throughout the community. This impact has not come without work though.
Early on Baker recognized that if she was going to get kids to connect with books, she needed to work during, “times that are convenient for families, but may not be convenient for librarians.” This meant frequent nights and weekends, which still holds true today.
She also recognized that to best impact students, she needed to create a community for teachers. As a former educator Baker knew that teachers would not be willing to give up classroom time in order to add one more thing to their laundry list of activities. That is of course unless there was good reason for it. Baker took the time to talk with teachers and build relationships, convincing them they could create a strong partnership- a partnership that has benefitted students, teachers, and the library.
Baker’s incredible ability to connect with both the community and the schools played a role in her receiving the Celebrate Literacy Award in 2008, something she is not quick to talk about but that she is extremely proud of. She feels the award reflects the work she has done in building relationships and other’s will agree. Sarah Mikesell Growney, who nominated Baker says, “She makes us [the parents] all feel valued, she knows each of us and she works to find things that interest us.” As one of the few non-teachers to receive the award, it speaks volumes to her hard work.
Baker’s energy is palpable as she talks about the programs she has implemented, brought back to life, or been involved in, including her role on the state committee for the Bookaroo Book contest, a K-3 event which she has helped bring back to the schools, and her work with the Cody Reading Council. She has also worked hard to build the home schoolers program at the library increasing attendance from eight to forty during her time there.
It is clear that Baker has vision and drive, so when asked what defines a strong leader it was no surprise to hear her answer, “Someone who is willing to act on good ideas. Everyone is full of good ideas, but not everyone is willing to act.”
Baker acts. Her passion for kids, books, and teaching is inspiring. She has devoted herself to sharing the world of books and reading to kids and she has made them better for it. Case in point: “I just did a book club yesterday,” says Baker. “We had read The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the kids started the meeting by saying we shouldn’t judge people by their looks. This was amazing! These kids wouldn’t have read that book without the program.” And the program owes its success to Holly Baker.
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