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Children's librarian: Her role of a lifetime

When San Marcos Public Library Children’s Librarian Ashley Schimelman was young, she dreamed of becoming a librarian one day, inspired by her hometown librarian who made a lasting impact on her life.

Now that her dreams have become a reality, she brings an unmatched level of passion to the children of the community and has done so for the past 23 years.

Schimelman said she grew up in Denton, and the librarian at her local public library, Miss Martha, influenced her greatly. “[She] dressed up in fancy dresses for puppet shows and did wonderful story times and had family night at the library, and she was just very inspiring to me. She inspired my love of reading and my love of books. So as I grew older, and I wanted to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, that was what I remembered– how inspiring she was and how I wanted to give that to other kids and pass that on,” she said.

Schimelman said she used to play librarian as a kid, and her brother and sister still remind her of that. “I have had an interest in children’s services and children's literature my whole career–you could say my whole life.

I wanted to be a librarian when I was a little kid,” she said.

Schimelman received her library science degree from Trinity University in San Antonio. She said she worked in the university library as an undergraduate.

“Which sort of reminded me of my childhood love of libraries and how I wanted to be a librarian when I grew up,” she said.

Schimelman later attended the Graduate School of Library Science at The University of Texas in Austin and commuted from San Marcos. Her first job out of library school was at an academic library in San Antonio at Our Lady of the Lake University, which was an even further commute, as she was still living here.

Schimelman saw a posting for the Children’s Librarian at the library here in town. “I got super excited because it was my dream job. I feel very, very fortunate that I got it,” she said.

Schimelman said her favorite part of her job is working with the kids and their families. “I plan the children’s events for the library including the Summer Reading Program,” she said.

Not only is she orchestrating the events, she is also personally involved in them. “I do storytime, and I perform the puppet shows–I do really love doing the puppet shows which probably comes across if you’ve seen any of my videos. We’ve actually been doing puppet shows at our library for 30 years, long before I started here, but when I came in, I really embraced that,” she said.

Schimelman writes the puppet shows herself and performs these with the Library Clerk Kathleen Garcia.

She said she recruits volunteers to help with various elements of the show. “Getting a puppet show ready to perform requires a lot of different skills. We actually get volunteers to record the voices. I edit the voices into a soundtrack that we can use during the puppet shows. Sometimes we have volunteers who paint backdrops or make props for us or even make the puppets,” she said.

Schimelman said she loves doing things that bring a sense of wonder to childrens’ faces and get them excited about stories and inspire them to check out books. “Then I tell them, ‘Guess what? If you like this story, we’ve got lots more stories just like it - right out there on the bookshelf,’” she said. “That is what I see my role as; It’s getting children excited about coming to the library. Getting children to be excited about books and reading and stories, and through that excitement I can help families build their kids into lifelong learners.”

Schimelman said she wants to have a lifelong impact on those kids, just as her childhood librarian did with her.

The Summer Reading Program is a longstanding tradition of the library, one that exceeds Schimelman’s time there, and a program that she said she is particularly proud of.

She said that while the kids are out of school, the library hosts various children’s events to entice them to come in and get out of the heat. “We continue to do our storytime and puppet shows like we do during the year, but we also have arts and crafts. We do science experiments. We have guest presenters. We had local author Maria Hutchison in to read her book earlier this week,” she said.

Schimelman said when the kids check out a book, they are sent home with a reading log. “The reading log is a way for them to set reading goals and track how much reading they’re doing in the summer,” she said. “When they turn that reading log in, they get a little prize. It might be a little toy. It might be a coupon from one of our sponsors like Raising Canes,” she said.

In addition to whatever small prize the kids receive, Schimelman said they are given a drawing slip to win a larger prize at the end of the Summer. “So what we always say is, the more you read, the better your chances to win because they get a drawing slip for every reading log they turn in,” she said. “Something we started more recently–last Summer– we actually also have a trophy that we call the Summer Reading Championship Trophy. That is awarded to the SMCISD elementary school whose students turn in the most reading logs, so it's a way that kids can cooperatively, as their reading through the summer, contribute to their school winning that trophy. That’s, of course, a huge point of pride.”

Schimelman said that this program can prevent 'summer slide,' which is a loss of skills learned during the year. “That means that when they go back to school in the fall, their skills are going to be at least as good as when they left or maybe even improved, and that’s a huge win for everybody,” she said.

Schimelman said the Summer Reading Program is not just limited to the youth. There are summer reading lists for each age group, including adults. “So we even have prizes that adults can win for filling out reading logs during the Summer,” she said.

Schimelman said that she wants the public to know that the library is a community place.

“People think about libraries as just being books on shelves, but if they come into our library, they are going to see really quickly that modern libraries, particularly in San Marcos, are much more than that. We are a vibrant, busy place where kids are coming to have fun and educational experiences, and grownups and teenagers are coming to have fun and educational experiences,” she said. “We offer programs for all ages, all year round, and that brings people in and brings them together as a community in a way that is really amazing,' she said.

Schimelman said she encourages anyone in the public who has not seen the library since the renovations to go check it out. “Everybody when they come into the library for the first time, their jaw just drops when they see how much it has changed,” she said.