By Mark Schmerling

 

Landrum Library’s new branch librarian, Anna Pilston, took over that position on June 15 after the retirement of Lee Morgan, but Pilston has lived in the community long enough to provide the service that library patrons and the community need.

 

“I’d been here,” Pilston said of her community connection. “I knew everybody. I’d met everybody,” she said of her library background. Several years ago, Pilston volunteered at Spartanburg County’s headquarters library in downtown Spartanburg.

 

She comes to Landrum Library with a long background of library experience.

 

A native of western Connecticut, she received her undergraduate degree in music and mathematics from Penn State University’s Erie campus. When she returned home following that, she worked in her hometown library. Then followed graduate school.

 

“I knew I wanted to go to graduate school,” Pilston recalled, “but I didn’t know what in.”

 

However, her time at her hometown library “solidified where I wanted to be,” and she earned her masters degree in library sciences from the University of Pittsburgh.

 

At Penn State Erie, Pilston served as science librarian. At Penn State’s Sharon campus, she was branch manager, and was able to access Penn State’s electronic resources, helping to launch her into serving in public libraries, with their combination of advancing technology and human interaction.

 

Pilston has a plan for her new position.

 

“Right now, my goals are to learn more about the community,” she said, “and the library system as a whole. We’re just a small part of it.” Landrum’s library is one of ten in the Spartanburg County system. Another goal includes developing programs not currently offered.

 

Part of her community involvement and education is her membership in the Landrum Area Business Association.

 

“That’s great fun,” Pilston said, “because it’s a great opportunity to meet people downtown, and find out what’s going on there.”

 

Pilston said the local business association not only helps coordinate local events, it “helps people remember that the library is here.”

 

While the electronic revolution has changed the way some library visitors access material, the Landrum Library still offers programs with direct human interaction.

 

One popular event there for young girls, Pilston said, was a recent fairy tea party attended by some 30 young ladies.

 

The library offers summer reading programs, part of the overall countywide library program.

 

Teens have enjoyed Anime Club activities, an increasingly popular study of Japanese animation and comic books. Movie nights are also popular.

 

The library’s children’s assistant visits local pre-schools. Pilston hopes that the library’s teen assistant will gain collaborations with the middle school and high school. Landrum Library’s former teen assistant had conducted comic book workshops in which participants created their own comic books.

 

Story time for young people, infants to about four or five, is held Thursdays at 10:30 a.m.

 

An established part of the library’s offerings is the Fall Fest featuring outdoor live music. It’s held Thursday evenings in September at 6:30 p.m. Motherlode Band will play Sept. 3; Underhill Rose on Sept. 10; Fayssoux & Company on Sept. 17; and Buncombe Turnpike on Sept. 24.

 

She praised the library system’s training program.

 

“We have a really great training program,” Pilston emphasized. “They make it really easy to settle in. Everyone has been very supportive.” In her short time at the libray so far, she said she has met and gotten to know many individual members and looks forward to meeting more.

 

Contact the Landrum Library at 864-457-2218 or visit 111 Asbury Drive, just off Hwy. 14, north of downtown, or go online to infodepot.org.

 

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