Library lover turned librarian shines at Emma Clark

For many people, a library with all its books and materials transports them on a journey of learning or fantasy. In the case of one 27-year-old Three Village resident, her love of libraries, especially one in particular, led to her career path.

Emily Ostrander has been visiting Emma S. Clark Memorial Library in Setauket regularly since she moved to Stony Brook from Massapequa when she was 7 years old. Today she is the Teen Services librarian who patrons meet when they enter Emma Clark’s Adult Services department. She had wanted to be a librarian since she was 12 when she began volunteering at the library. Ostrander said it was then working with the librarians that she realized it was “a cool career.”

A few years after volunteering, she began working as a library page and went on to receive her bachelor’s degree in English from Stony Brook University and master’s in Library Science from Queens College. After graduating, she became a part-time children’s librarian.

She landed her current full-time position  as Teen Services librarian and working at the Adult Reference Desk in 2019, a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down libraries for a few months.

Despite dealing with a complex age group and shutdowns, library officials said teen programming has flourished under Ostrander’s care. In 2021, the number of hours teenagers volunteered had increased over 2019 and 2020. Participation in the Teen Summer Reading Club also continues to increase with readers using a new online platform.

Library director, Ted Gutmann, said Ostrander has developed a rapport with the teenage patrons and their parents. He added she has a good mix of librarian skills and enterprise.

“She’s constantly coming up with new and creative ideas to engage the teens, and really to help instill the value of libraries in general in their lives, which I think is an important thing,” he said.

Ostrander said she tries to think outside of the box, but it can be difficult coming up with ideas for teens as she describes them as “over scheduled and under slept.”

“They have so many other things that they’re doing that you have to have something that is worth it for them to come to the library,” the librarian said.

Recently, the library introduced a Dungeons & Dragons group, which she said has brought in more young people.

For Ostrander, once she and her sister could read, their mother would take them to the library at least once a week, sometimes every other day. Being homeschooled, Ostrander said the library was for educational purposes and socializing. Through the years she participated in the library’s Summer Reading Club and Battle of the Books team.

“I would meet friends there as well as make friends there,” she said. “I went to as many library programs as I could go to.”

“She’s constantly coming up with new and creative ideas to engage the teens, and really to help instill the value of libraries in general in their lives, which I think is an important thing.”

— Ted Gutmann

She remembered being 9 years old and discovering the stickers on the children’s books.

“I read every single one that had the historical-fiction sticker on it from A to Z,” Ostrander said.

In addition to enjoying a physical book, she also has an appreciation for audiobooks because, as a child, there were many books she wanted to read such as “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and the “Harry Potter” series which were above her reading level when she was interested in them. She continues to use audiobooks exclusively on the library’s reading app when she doesn’t have time to sit and read a book.

As for the challenge of a new job, Ostrander said she was ready. After she worked in the children’s department, former Teen Services librarian Nanette Feder, now Adult Programming librarian, trained her and planned out programs for the first few months, which Ostrander said was a big help.

She has known Feder since she was a teen going to the library.

“I think she probably had a formative effect on my decision to go into the library and everybody in children’s,” she said.

Ostrander started to prepare her own programs when the library was shut down due to COVID-19 restrictions. She and other librarians found themselves starting from scratch, and she found she was up to the challenge.

“It was freeing in a way because no one has ever done this,” she said.

She found programs via Zoom weren’t successful with teens, which she said was understandable because they were learning virtually during school hours. She said craft kits where people would pick up materials at the building and then make something at home turned out to be successful with all age groups. The craft program continues due to demand.

Ostrander said the job has lived up to her expectations, and it has been interesting working with teens.

“They’re all coming into their own,” she said. “They’re really starting to build their own personalities and it’s so much fun to watch.”