Photo by Daniel Jackovino Tina Marie Doody took over as Glen Ridge Public Library director on March 14.
Tina Marie Doody took over as Glen Ridge Public Library director on March 14.
GLEN RIDGE, NJ — The Glen Ridge Public Library has a new library director and her name is Tina Marie Doody. In an interview with The Glen Ridge Paper on Monday, March 14, her first day on the job, Doody, 45, said she grew up in Hampden, Maine, a town near Bangor, whose claim to fame is that Stephen King taught there, at Hampden Academy, while writing “Carrie.”
Doody attended Rutgers University for her Bachelor of Arts in political science and communication, and for her master’s degree in library and information science.
“I was a library kid,” she said. “I grew up at the library. After college, I worked for a nonprofit in NYC, the Century Foundation. I was a website manager.”
Deciding she wanted to continue her education, she became a librarian.
“The foundation also had a publishing arm, so I was involved with books peripherally,” she said.
She began her professional library career in 2003 at the Montclair Public Library. She was a reference librarian there for six years. She then went to the Plainfield Public Library as head of reference for six years, before being promoted to assistant director. She held that post for six and a half years, until coming to Glen Ridge.
Doody believes customer service is a key librarian role. With more material in a digital format, she said, it is important for libraries not to leave behind people who may not have access to the technology. The Plainfield Public Library, she said, has a 50-person staff, but, though different, the GRPL, she believes, is a good fit for her.
“I’m excited about this next step in my career,” she said, “and having a different experience with a smaller staff and focusing on service.”
Given that Doody was born in Maine, it’s not surprising that she ice skates.
“I’m an adult figure skater with a coach working in preliminary dance solos,” she said. “U.S. figure skating is very regimented.”
Doody is a beginner in the U.S. Figure Skating Association and is working toward what is called pre-bronze.
“I’ve ice skated on and off for 10 to 15 years, stopped, but I’ve been consistent for the last five years,” she said.
To become pre-bronze, she will be judged on three ice dance performances: the Dutch waltz, which she passed; the Canasta tango, which is the dance she is currently practicing; and, finally, rhythm and blues. The testing will be virtual, and a date has not yet been determined.
And being a librarian, of course she likes to read, enjoying urban fantasy, science fiction and romance. Urban fantasy is a fantasy subgenre in which supernatural elements take place in an urban setting.
Doody said she is getting ready to read “Crowbones,” by Anne Bishop. The book is the third in a series.
“It’s not quite as urban, but it is fantasy,” she said.
And she is eagerly awaiting Patricia Briggs’ new fantasy novel, “Soul Taken,” the 13th novel in the Mercy Thompson series.
Doody also appreciates science fiction elements in movies. “I saw the new ‘Dune’ and it was fantastic,” she said. “It’s on my list to reread.”
Doody was also the head of the eLibraryNJ development committee. eLibraryNJ is a media collection that can be downloaded.
“I did that for 15 years,” she said. “It was separate from the Plainfield Public Library and a separate role. I did a lot of selecting and ordering for the group. It’s in Central and Southern New Jersey.”
According to Doody, a library is a bastion of free speech, a place where people can go and not have to buy anything.
“It’s important for us to support our communities and provide access to information,” she said.
The current trend of making it a crime for librarians to provide minors with material deemed immoral or harmful, she said, is nothing new.
“Librarians have an important role on all sorts of topics and not just ones popular to those in power at the time,” she said.
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