Meet the New Children's Librarian in Radnor

Meet Carrie Sturgill. She's the new Children's Librarian at .

Sturgill started Dec. 26 in her new post, which has her doing Storytime programs, maintaining the collection and providing reference services, amongst other duties.

She will work under head of children’s department Dorothy Carlson, who is in her 41st year with the library.

Teaching started Sturgill on the track to library sciences.

"I love reading, I love children, and I still wanted to be involved with instruction and education," she said, explaining her transition from teaching.

"It seemed like a logical next step."

Sturgill is originally from the Lehigh Valley area. She has worked in Florida, Virginia, and most recently, the Cheltenham Township Library System.

"Kids learn through something that engages them in a fun and experiential way," she said. "We’re here to get them to associate reading and learning with something exciting – like the Lego club or story times."

("They’re not conscious of our agenda," she noted.)

Sturgill said at the library they are trying to lay the foundation that learning is fun.

"It’s about the environment," she said.

"For young children the most important thing is free play," Carlson said.

Over the years in her job, seeing so many children pass through, Carlson said that the children who regularly take home and bring back tote bags full of books  have a better vocabulary than others.

The children's section have computers with educational programs, but they should be used in moderation, the librarians said.

Sometimes, Sturgill said, "We feel we have to compete with computers."