Library Limelight: Tracy Walker, Programming Manager, Library Headquarters

Library Limelight is intended to be a quick read to help FCPL patrons get to know our librarians, staff, and volunteers. We hope you enjoy learning about the people who make our libraries great!

Tracy Walker
Programming Manager
Library Headquarters

Where is your hometown?

I was born in Athens, Georgia, and grew up in DeKalb County.

How long have you been at FCPL?

I’ve been the Programming Manager for about a year-and-a-half now.

What other jobs have you had at FCPL?

Many moons ago, while in graduate school, I was a part-time shelver. I am happy to be back!

Why did you choose to work in a library?

Growing up, I practically lived at the Maude Burris library in Decatur. When I began storytelling, I worked with Head Start centers in Southern Appalachia, and that work led me to sharing programs in libraries. For the first time I witnessed the truly profound, life-changing role public libraries can play in people’s lives – particularly the lives of underserved children.  

Describe your job in five words or less.

Varied, creative, collaborative, busy!

What is unique about your job?

I love getting to work with both youth and adult programming.  

What is your favorite part of your job?

The amazing, talented, kind people I work with!  

What’s the most interesting place you’ve lived or traveled?

I travelled to India several years ago to visit a dear friend. Before I leave the planet, I hope I’m able to return. I also love Yellowstone.

What are your hobbies?

Writing, kayaking, and road trips. I love road trips!

What are you reading right now?

I’m reading two books on the history of color at the moment, Color: A Natural History of the Palette and The Secret Lives of Color, and enjoying both!

Paper books, eBooks, or audiobooks?

All three! But there’s something lovely in the tangibility of paper.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

All of my houseplants are named after former first ladies. Martha Washington is in my office. (Maybe that’s something I shouldn’t share…)

Author to Share Addiction and Recovery Story in Forsyth County

Texas Stready ran away from home at age 17. Her addiction was financed by drug dealing. For 28 years she traveled a path that took her to places from which few return.

Stready will visit Forsyth County to speak about her experiences with addiction and recovery and share stories of grief, loss, and redemption from her memoir, Deep in the Heart of Texas. Stready will give listeners an unvarnished look inside the mind of an addict on Wednesday, August 21 at 7:00 p.m. at the Sharon Forks Library, 2820 Old Atlanta Road, Cumming.

Her journey will confirm that change is possible.

After all, Stready overcame addiction and went on to co-found A Radical Difference, an online community devoted to changing perspectives and helping people achieve a new life.

“Being hooked on anything bites. I know, because I was strung out on every kind of drug you can imagine for almost three decades,” Stready says on ARadicalDifference.com.

“Living this way for so long twisted all my life concepts, and being different required I get good at change. So I did. No matter what you’re trapped in there’s a way out, and it’s nowhere near as painful or difficult as it seems,” Stready explains.

Stready’s talk is open to the public, but she encourages anyone struggling with addiction, as well as those who are close to someone struggling with addiction, to attend. She will discuss where wrong beliefs start, why it’s so important for an addict to want a different life for themselves, and when change really begins.

Admission to An Evening with Texas Stready is free. Copies of Texas Stready’s memoir, Deep in the Heart of Texas, will be available for purchase at the event. 

“In Her Father’s Eyes” Exhibit at Sharon Forks Library

Visit the Sharon Forks Library August 2 – 22, 2019 to view In Her Father’s Eyes: A Slovak Childhood in the Shadow of the Holocaust, on loan from the Museum of History and Holocaust Education at Kennesaw State University.

This photographic exhibit documents the short life of Kitty Weichherz, a Czechoslovakian girl born in the same year as Anne Frank. Family photographs and entries in Kitty’s diary offer a window into the everyday life of a child: birthday parties, the first day of school, a first boyfriend.

In Her Father’s Eyes: A Slovak Childhood in the Shadow of the Holocaust was curated in partnership with Dr. Daniel Magilow of the University of Tennessee and graduate students in Youngstown State University's Public History Program.

Kitty’s story is told through the loving eyes of her surviving father and story paints a portrait of a young girl’s innocence in the face of increasing anti-Jewish sentiment on the eve of World War II. The touching story of just one girl, one family, emphasizes the humanity of millions just like Kitty who were lost in this tragic war.

Andrea Miskewicz, Onsite Education Coordinator for the Museum of History and Holocaust Education at Kennesaw State University, will visit the Sharon Forks Library on Saturday, August 17 at 3:00 p.m. to speak on the history of the Holocaust (1933-1945), as well as stories of children who were victims and survivors of the Nazi regime.

Staff Picks: Feed by M.T. Anderson (Teen Fiction)

This National Book Award Finalist caught my eye so I decided to try the audiobook version of Feed.

It is shelved in the teen high area, but could also appeal to adults who like a dystopian feel and edgy language. It took a little time to get into the rhythm of the slang used, but once I got engaged I was in until the very end.

In the dystopian world of Feed, most of the population has a chip implanted so they are receiving a constant stream of information directly to their brains. Even their messaging to one another is directly through The Feed.

Our protagonist, Titus, is living his normal teenage life with friends and The Feed until he meets Violet, who was homeschooled and had her implant later in life. She introduces a different perspective on the constant feed of data being received. Additionally, the question of who benefits most from The Feed is raised.

In the background of the story there is thrum of dissent, but it never quite comes front and center. The further into this book I got the more I started seeing parallels to our current use (or perhaps overuse) of electronic devices and social media, particularly the way service providers tailor the data we see.

This book was published in 2002 and the similarities to the present day are striking. The only difference is that we don’t have chips in our brains – yet!

Lola Nichols
Information Specialist

Staff Picks: Camino Island by John Grisham (Adult Fiction)

Camino Island by John Grisham 

Camino Island is the perfect summer read for book lovers. When several priceless manuscripts are stolen from a university library, investigators trace the pages to a small town bookstore on picturesque Camino Island and enlist a writer in an undercover operation to recover the goods before they’re sold on the black market. Fans of rare books, romance and suspense will enjoy this compelling story.

Alicia Cavitt
Information Specialist

Staff Picks: The Flying Mountain by Christoph Ransmayr (Adult Non Fiction)

The Flying Mountain by Christoph Ransmayr

After leading their own lives, two brothers reconnect and test their relationship by attempting to scale a mysterious peak in Trans Himalaya. It is written from one brother’s perspective, as he struggles through his grief and guilt after losing his brother, Liam, during the treacherous mountain climb. The story is written in blank verse which suits the alternating recollections of their growing up together on the coast of Ireland and their joint adventure. Despite struggling to reconcile his feelings of anger, jealousy, and survivors guilt, he ultimately finds love and a newfound appreciation for his brother. If you enjoyed H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald, this book provides the spiritual rejuvenation nature can provide after a profound loss.

Joan Dudzinski
Information Services Supervisor

Library Limelight: Teresa Santangelo, Circulation Supervisor, Sharon Forks Library

Library Limelight is intended to be a quick read to help FCPL patrons get to know our librarians, staff, and volunteers. We hope you enjoy learning about the people who make our libraries great!

Teresa Santangelo
Circulation Supervisor
Sharon Forks Library

Where is your hometown?

Lawrenceville, GA

How long have you been at FCPL?

16 years 

What other jobs have you had at FCPL?

Circulation Assistant, Information Specialist, and Collection Support Supervisor

Why did you choose to work in a library?

My job at the library started out as a part-time job so that I could meet people in the community. I loved it so much that I decided to make it a career.  

What is unique about your job?

Each day brings a new adventure.

What is your favorite part of your job?

The people that I work with and the patrons I get the opportunity to serve. 

What’s the most interesting place you’ve lived or traveled?

When I was 16, my family drove to Niagara Falls, Canada. My favorite part of our trip was the Maid of the Mist boat tour which took us to the base of Niagara Falls. It was spectacular. 

What are your hobbies?

I love cooking, baking, and spending time with my children and grandchildren. 

What are you reading right now?

Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer

Paper books, eBooks, or audiobooks?

Paper books and eBooks

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to serve the awesome library patrons in our community.