Meet Our New Library Director: Adrianne Junius

Stepping into the Library Limelight this month is Adrianne Junius who will join the Forsyth County Public Library family on January 6 as the new Library Director. From the front desk to IT to hauling boxes, Adrianne has experienced every aspect of library life. Like any good novel though, her story arc has had a few unexpected twists and turns.

Photo credit: Peachtree Co. 

From the onset, she was learning life lessons that would shape the way she today views the patron experience. “My very first job was as a check out clerk at Publix,” she said. “I learned early on the importance of excellent customer service and front facing services. This has really helped shape how to provide services to patrons at a public library.” 

After her early foray into the world of retail and even through her college education, library life wasn’t on her career radar.

“It was actually my mom who told me I would be a great librarian. I was set to go to law school, I had my acceptance and everything. However, nothing felt right,” she recalls. “My mom suggested I should consider being a librarian since I was an excellent researcher and loved reading.”

Adrianne declined the law school acceptance and took a temporary job shelving children’s books at a local library in Jonesboro, GA, for the summer. “I loved it! I then started working in reference, library IT, and public services,” she said. “I applied to library school and moved to Maryland to get my Masters in Library Science while my husband stayed here working in Cumming. The rest is history. I am so glad I listened to my mom.”

Through the years, she has experienced moments that she looks back on with equal measures of pride and of awe at what she and her staff accomplished.

She counts renovating the downtown Gainesville Library as one of her greatest professional accomplishments. “The whole staff packed up a two-story library and moved into a tiny temporary building. You never know how strong you are mentally and physically until you have to move thousands of books into storage and work out of a temporary library 1/10th the size of what you are used to,” she said. “Then to top it all off, COVID hit, and we had to move everything back in the summer of 2020. The remodel turned out amazing in the end!”

Adrianne’s downtime includes one hobby that comes as no surprise. “I think everyone would be really upset if their new library director did not like reading as a hobby. So rest assured, I love reading!”

And for her favorite reads? “I am a huge Tudor and British history nut, so I am constantly listening to Tudor based podcasts,” adding, “I also love to travel. Being the daughter of a pilot, I have had many adventures around the world. Also, going on Disney vacations and watching the Georgia Bulldogs play are my favorite ways to spend my downtime,” Adrianne says.

Adrianne has been surrounded by many wonderful friends, family, and colleagues who have made her the person she is today. There is one person, however, she credits the most: her mother.

“She was an accountant, actually the first female college graduate to work at her first accounting office. So she was a trailblazer. She taught me about hard work, professionalism, integrity, and being a great working mom,” she said.

And the lessons her mom taught her remain today. “She also showed me that everyone has hidden strength. She passed away 15 years ago after battling stage four pancreatic cancer for over three years. She never gave up. Sometimes when I am stressed, I think about her strength and know nothing is too big I cannot face,” she says.

Work has provided a few life lessons too. “Five words I live by: integrity, fairness, trust, grace, and professionalism. You have to have these five things to be a good administrative librarian. Everyone, especially the public I serve, deserve these actions from me and their library system,” she said.

Though a woman of many talents, there is one task she leaves to the experts. “I am horrible at arts and crafts. I have no idea why I was not chosen to be gifted with this talent,” she says. “I envy people who can make beautiful crafts and artwork.”

Adrianne expects the next year to be one of personal and professional growth with a library system that she admires for its efficiency and the great people supporting it.

“I am a very lucky library director that I am walking into a library system that is extremely well-run, a supportive library board, and an excellent staff. Many library directors do not have that luxury,” she says.

“I hope to use my first year to get to know everyone in the community and the staff.  I also want to start laying the foundation for a leadership program for our paraprofessionals and new librarians,” she said. “We have amazing things happening at FCPL from the opening of Denmark to new technology that can help our community access books and information. I am so looking forward to working with everyone to bring so many ideas that the staff and I have to fruition.”

We couldn’t let Adrianne depart without answering two of our Limelight readers’ favorite questions:

Paper books, eBooks, or audiobooks? 

“Paper books forever! Nothing is better than getting a cup of coffee and opening a paper book on a blissful morning.  Audiobooks for the drive. Sorry eBooks, they only come out for long trips where I don’t want to pack multiple books. So it is rare you will see me with an eBook.”

What is your “must read” recommendation for friends and family?

“My favorites are Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems and anything by Jane Austen.”

by Joanne Garrett
Administrative Specialist