Interview by Emily Hessney Lynch.

Published November 29, 2018.

Where are you originally from? How did you end up in Rochester at this time in your life?

I was born and raised in Rochester. My family has been in the Rochester area since the mid-1800s, so I’m a fifth generation Rochesterian. I’ve been here my whole life, though I had some short stints away for college and summers. I grew up in the South Wedge area for part of my childhood, and my family moved to Gates later on. My dad and brothers were all transferred to Kodak Elm Grove—we were a big Kodak family (and fun fact: I’m the 9th of 10 kids).

I’ve stayed in Rochester because it’s just a great place. You have everything here—city, suburbs, and rural areas all within a 30 min drive. You don’t get that easily anywhere else.

What are some of your favorite/secret Rochester spots? 

• Village Gate—It’s one of my happy places in the city. Back when I was in high school, it was an awesome, funky, flea market-type place. There were lots of different vendors and shops, and you could find anything you wanted. It’s the same today, with great restaurants and shops, Causewave, and all the artists at Anderson Alley.
• Hurd Orchards—One of my favorite places to go. It’s absolutely beautiful. I use it as a treat for my employees: we’ll do a themed luncheon from Hurd to celebrate a special occasion. Visiting takes you out into the country onto a working farm, and the food is spectacular. The best thing is that the two owners are mother/daughter and have owned the farm for generations. They talk about the history of the land, the region, and the food you’re eating.
• Genesee Country Village and Museum—It’s a fantastic place. They’re trying to bring in more people who aren’t aware of it. The things they do are really cool.
• Ontario Beach Park—I love it; it’s a great place to go and hang out.
• Hamlin Beach State Park—Another favorite.
• Our libraries—Our libraries are heavily used in Monroe County, but there are a number that are farther out or lesser known. The Toy Library at the Lincoln Branch is a hidden gem—it’s a regular library full of toys rather than books. The staff who run it have really cool programs and interesting activities for kids and families. The toys themselves are cataloged in online catalogue. You can browse online and have toys sent wherever your closest library is! Our smaller libraries are really fun and interesting too. Scottsville is our smallest and it’s in an old opera house. Going there is an interesting architectural experience and it’s a neat library.
• The Cinema Theatre—I grew up going there, and have great memories of Saturday afternoon matinees with my aunt.
• Spencerport—I always enjoy visiting the Depot and Grandpa Sam’s.

If you had $100 and two hours to kill in Rochester, how would you spend the money/time? 

I would probably go to the Public Market—maybe take my family there and let them loose. That would be interesting! They have such great produce.

What's your favorite neighborhood in the city?

I have a fondness for the South Wedge since I grew up there. I also love the 19th Ward. Go get the chicken and waffles at the Arnett Cafe. If I moved back into the city, that’s where I’d look.

There are also lots of neat attributes to the Beechwood neighborhood right now—it’s bouncing back from a long period of time when people were moving out of that area. There are beautiful houses with interesting architecture at very affordable prices.

What is your personal coping mechanism for cold/gray weather?

The cold doesn’t bother me as much as it used to. I take advantage of things that are available to do inside. I’m a reader, so I like to hunker down wherever I am. I also bake—I’m both a winter and a stress baker. On Friday nights you can usually find me baking something.

What is your favorite Rochester memory? 

When my family lived on Linden Street, we were very close to Highland Park. Before the Lilac Festival became the beast it is today… we would all walk up to the park together with our mom, and it was so laid back. We’d walk through the lilacs, and there’d be no vendors, music, or cotton candy. I have such warm memories of walking along the stone wall on Goodman Street along the edge of the park across from the Divinity School. Could you balance all the way, walking along that wall, without falling? My brothers and sisters and I would also race along that set of stairs that takes you to the top of the hill where the lilacs are. All those Highland Park memories are good ones—especially the wintertime sledding ones, too.

The early 80s music scene in Rochester was outstanding! I spent a lot of time at Scorgee’s—it used to be on Andrews Street between St. Paul and Water Street. I have lots of great memories of the early punk scene there. It was just a club, but they had great music.

What makes Rochester unique?

There are a lot of things—affordable housing is at the top of the list. A 2,000 sq ft house in California or Florida compared to here would cost much more. You can get a really solid house here for a decent amount of money. While NYS has higher taxes than some other places, the low cost of housing makes up for it.

Wegmans is a great advantage too. Having a family-run grocery business that is so heavily focused on the customer is really unusual.

The people here seem to be more authentic, open to new ideas, and creative than in many other places. They have the ability to express themselves in multiple ways. The public art that’s gone up in NOTA and downtown is a good representation of that. Shawn Dunwoody is a true Rochester gem who is doing an incredible thing in making the city more attractive and livable.

People here are also generous—I don’t know any other place where a boy scout troop can hang a sign on your door about doing a can and bottle drive and five days later every house on the street has piled up all their cans and bottles. Roc the Day is a good example of that—people from other cities are astounded at generosity of Rochester donors.

What do you think could be improved? 

You can’t ignore the poverty rate here in Rochester; it’s been with us forever and doesn’t seem to go away. With that has come a revealing, long-standing, systemic racism. It’s not just in the city—it’s throughout the region. And it’s incongruous, because the people here are so generous. The way that generosity is often tempered with systemic racism blows my mind sometimes.

For example, we had an issue with bedbugs in the library system awhile ago, and we did a staff training throughout the county. After one training session, a staff member from a suburban library said that the only reason their library had bedbugs was because a city resident had borrowed their materials. She simply thought she was stating a fact! But in reality, bedbugs are everywhere. You can get them at Tinseltown or AMC Theatres or your doctor’s office. It doesn’t matter whether you live in poverty or not. She learned that through this training, but that had been her attitude prior to that. There’s a lot of education that needs to happen.

In the library world, we have to get people to understand that they need to think about this—things are not alright, and we need to talk about them. Fortunately we have places like YWCA and NCBI doing really good things around racism, equity, and inclusion. Our community has recognized that there’s a problem, and now we need to do something about it.

What's a day in the life of a Library Director like? 

I oversee all the services provided by the Monroe County Library System. Each town library has its own director and board. MCLS provides the internet catalogue, delivery system, etc. Each town library has their own ability to make policy decisions that could be different from other libraries. I also oversee all the city libraries—and we make policy decisions. Our decisions can impact town libraries. For example, we eliminated overdue fines for children’s materials. Some town libraries lose revenue if it’s borrowed at RPL and returned at Chili, for example. But we made that decision in the best interest of the people that we serve.

One of the things I feel is my primary responsibility is to clear obstacles for my staff to deliver the services that we need to deliver. I strive to create relationships that open doors for my staff so they can deliver creative and inventive programming.

For example, I’ve built relationships with Cara Rager and Marian French at WXXI, and we’ve created an exploration station program that combines STEM learning with traditional literacy activities. These programs have been super popular and have led to stronger relationships between the libraries and WXXI. We hosted a “Be My Neighbor” day with Daniel Tiger and over 3,500 people came! We also brought in the Lion’s Club to do vision screenings for families and other health agencies that provided information about dental health, immunizations, and more.

Another community partnership I’m excited about is a group convened by Heidi Zimmer-Meyer from RDDC called Games Roc—it’s a working information group looking at video game development in the Downtown Innovation Zone, and it includes people from the library, RIT, and more. Earlier this year, the library partnered with Second Avenue Learning, a maker of STEM-related educational video games, to have kids work directly with developers, gaining skills with software and learning about careers in the field. It turned out to be one of our most successful programs! This started at the Sullivan Library and we’re taking it to Irondequoit too.

What are some of your favorite pieces of library lore or legend?

We just opened a renovated auditorium in the Rundel Building named for two men who were one of the first openly gay couples in Rochester—Alan Kusler was the library’s PR director, and his partner, Bill Cox, was the assistant director for MCLS. They both passed away within the last five years, and left their estate to the library foundation. We were able to completely renovate the third floor auditorium with that.

Another interesting story: in 1992, the Rochester Public Library closed the Pulaski Branch on Hudson Ave. When it was built in the 1920s, a time capsule was hidden inside interior walls by the local Polish community. Hudson Ave area was a big Polish area during that time. Over the years, the location of the time capsule was forgotten. When they closed the library, several people went in with sledgehammers looking for the time capsule! It was eventually found and is now in the care of the Polish American Society.

What are some lesser known MCLS programs/services?

I’m continually amazed that people don’t know about our downloadable Libby app & Overdrive service, where you can download free e-books and audio books. You can also get a NY Public Library or Brooklyn Public Library card, and get access to their collections through Libby app! Why pay $14.99/month for an Audible subscription? We also have Hoopla, which is just for City residents —it’s a video streaming service with films, documentaries (often unusual or esoteric ones) and e-books and music as well. If you can’t find something in Overdrive, you can almost always find it in Hoopla.

Another neat thing we started recently is that patrons can get a GoChip through the Reynolds Media Division—it’s a device that’s smaller than a cell phone and has a portable wireless hotspot that can broadcast up to 5 feature films or 1-2 seasons of a TV show across up to 8 devices within a 75 foot range without the need for internet/electricity. You can take this camping in the Adirondacks, for example, and pitch a tent in the wilderness, with no cell towers or internet, and stream a movie or TV show to your phone or laptop. We have a brand new collection of 50-60 devices. They all have different themes, so you can borrow a Zombie themed device, or the first two seasons of The Black List, or any other TV show.

There are a lot of unusual objects people don’t realize you can borrow through the library. For example, you can borrow a sewing machine from the Central Library, and you can borrow Kindle Fires through the Media Center!

Our Health and Tech floor at Central Library provides services to people who are homeless—we have social workers in several days a week, as well as legal services, and health officials, like a retired nurse who does blood pressure and glucose readings. She’s actually saved a few lives! In one case, she determined that one man’s sugar was so high that he was about to collapse. They got him to hospital in time.

All of our branch libraries are trying to serve their community’s needs. There’s something happening every single day for kids and families.

Does MCLS have any exciting events coming up?

Central Library opened its annual Art of the Book exhibit on November 7 in Hacker Hall in the Rundel Building. This is a juried exhibit of book art from around the world. It runs through January 9th.

What's one thing you wish everyone in Rochester knew about the library system?

It is MORE THAN BOOKS! It's craft classes, local history lectures, genealogy research, TASC and ESOL classes, health classes, business research, health education, patent and copyright research & applications, programs for babies and toddlers, digital media creation labs, games, and concerts. And the things you can borrow! Videos (DVDS and streaming) e-content, framed art, sewing machines, fishing poles, toys, "cuddle kits," books, magazines, and music. All you need is a library card!

If Rochester was a book, what genre would it be?

Adventure! I think it’s broad enough that it can be good and bad. If you’re only thinking about poverty and racism, it might be a tragedy. But there are other things that temper that out, like the generosity and all the things that make living here interesting. Adventure is what you make of it. It’s taking a chance on whether your day will be good or bad. It’s how your actions and decisions pull you through everything that happens to you during the day.