RAYMOND – After more than a decade with Barbara Thorpe at the helm, the Raymond Village Library, considered one of the town’s cultural centers of activity, has a new library director.

Sally Holt’s first day was June 24, and the introduction to the small library was anything but small. In all, more than 100 patrons checked out 300 books that day, a far cry from Holt’s previous employer, the much-larger Auburn Public Library, but it served as a pretty impressive first impression, she says.

Holt, who has a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts and a master’s degree in library science from Clarion University in Pennsylvania, served as a collaborative team librarian during her 10 years in Auburn, with a focus on teens.

She is married to David Holt and lives in Norway. Her husband, the first town manager of Standish, in the 1980s, now serves as Norway’s town manager. They have a daughter, Mary, who lives in Portland.

Since the library was too busy with customers to conduct an interview inside, with dozens of bibliophiles checking out the annual book sale now in progress, the Lakes Region Weekly sat down with Holt for an interview on benches on the lawn of the little library at the corner of Main Street and Route 121 in Raymond.

Q: So, how did you first become interested in becoming a librarian?

A: I was a middle school teacher and felt I would have more one-on-one time with students in a library. I felt in a classroom situation I didn’t get to have the same one-on-one relationship that I could as a librarian in a library.

Q: Are you a voracious reader?

A: I love to read magazines, and I enjoy reading just regular magazines women like to read. I also hear about articles from various magazines, maybe The Atlantic magazine or library journals, and I will read those. What I really like about some of the magazines is that there are websites in there that may be helpful for people to tap into. Some of them might be about how to get the best deals on vacations, or couponing, who knows? Just things everyday people want to know about.

Q: Sounds like you see yourself as a go-between between this huge world of knowledge and this little library and the people who come here, and you’re trying to help them tap into it.

A: No, I’m not a go-between. I’m a go-with. In the past, people would come to the library and we would give them what we thought they needed. That sometimes is true because we have a responsibility to know what’s out there that might be helpful. But now the thinking is, we are finding things together. I’ve worked in libraries for many years and I have learned a lot more from the people who come in than I could ever tell them, and that’s what being a librarian is about: working together to find the information. So, it’s go-with, not go-between, and that’s very important.

Q: With everything changing, even philosophies of what a librarian’s role is, what do you see as the future of libraries? Especially, how do you see the digital revolution affecting libraries?

A: I see libraries being a 24/7 resource where people can access the library at any time of day, mostly through the website and also during the open hours, coming in and using the library. So I see it as a 24/7 resource.

Q: But some things don’t change, like a really good book. Do you have a favorite?

A: My favorite book of all time is “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens. It’s historical. It’s also a really sad story where the main character dies in the end, but somehow you see what a really great person this person is and how they wanted to sacrifice for someone else. And I typically don’t read things where people die in the end, but I read it when I was in high school and I’ve never forgotten it.

Right now, I’m actually reading some books about customer service in libraries and being a library manager because I feel like you have to read professional literature. I just finished reading “The Flight of Gemma Hardy,” by Margot Livesay, which is a Jane Eyre-type book. I love anything Jane Eyre.

Q: What will your role as library director be here?

A: My role on a day-to-day basis is to make sure things are running smoothly, working with the trustees and listening for direction from the trustees, that sort of thing. But there are great plans, and one of the plans is for me to get out into the community more, to go out to the schools more, to hopefully be able to work with the business community. And that’s what I did in Auburn. I did a lot of collaboration with all kinds of organizations and agencies, and I loved doing it.

I just finished reading a book by Chrystie Hill called “Inside, Outside and Online: Building Your Library Community.” And what you do is, you’re online, and you’re both inside and you’re outside the library. The librarian has got to be all over the place. It’s no longer like years ago where you just stayed in the library and you stamp out books. You have a responsibility as a librarian to get out because that’s how you get to know your community and the people in the community.

Q: What’s the difference between working here and the big city of Auburn?

A: I was talking to somebody about that today. The thing that isn’t different is the people wanting connection, to get materials and get information. That is the same any place. The difference for me here that I’ve already noticed is customer contact. In Auburn, there’s more technology, [many computers, a media lab.] The first day I was here, there were probably 100 people and we probably checked out close to 300 books, on a Sunday. The place was hopping. I really wasn’t surprised, because I had come through a couple of times and seen the parking lot. I had heard about Barbara [Thorpe], and she is a librarian of the people. And if you have a librarian of the people, people are going to be there, because they know she cares. They know she connects, and they know that she’s going to get them what they want.

Q: A wide range of people are involved in the Raymond library, volunteering, taking out books. The library also has many children’s events. It sounds like they reach all audiences here in Raymond.

A: Well, an audience we’re going to be working on attracting also is teens. Teens are a population of people who are very close to my heart. I was educated as a high school and middle school teacher and I’ve been working with teens since I was 19 years old. And we have all kinds of ideas. One idea is to have the teens come in and work as volunteers. And also some community service opportunities. I understand that in order to graduate from [Windham High School] the teens need to have community service hours, so we’re hoping to bring them in to do some community service in the library, help out with events, and also doing readers advisories where the teens read and review books and they get so many hours of credit for doing so. And we’d have those reviews available for other teens to read. I’m going to be talking to the schools about that in the fall.

We have a lot of teens coming into the library but that’s a population that I’d like to reach out to more because they have some valuable things to say, and they’re great with technology, and they’re honest, open. And I think that would be a real benefit.

Q: Auburn must have been a little busy compared to Raymond.

A: What has happened, is there is a balance here. I feel like there’s more of a balance. I feel like people of all ages are coming here, from babies to older people. It’s busy, but it’s busy in a different way. And the library is in process of being automated, meaning you can check out books electronically, do reports, circulation, discards through the computer. Right now, it’s still stamping cards, so it’s very paper-and-pencil intensive. And what’s going to be happening soon is you’ll be able to check out books by a wand. It’ll be computerized. People will be able to look at books from home, put reserves on books from home. So that’s coming.

Q: Are you excited to come to Raymond?

A: I was telling Leigh Walker, one of the trustees, that this is the type of library they could write about in a library journal. It’s very special. It is truly a village library where people just come in, stop and chat. So I’m excited about it, but there is a lot to learn. A lot to learn.

Sally Holt started June 24 in her new role as library director for the Raymond Village Library. She replaces the long-serving Barbara Thorpe, who is staying on temporarily to help with the transition.