A new Director to the Howell Carnegie District Library has been named to help continue steering them into the future.

Holly Ward Lamb has been announced as the successor to current Library Director Kathleen Zaenger by the Library Board of Trustees. Lamb has worked within the Howell Library for the past 24 years, most recently operating as Head of the Youth Services Department. She said she has big shoes to fill, but believes that Zaenger mentored her well and that the transition should occur smoothly. Lamb said that libraries have come a long way since she began in Howell, and now more than ever they are a place for humans to get together and make connections. Lamb sees the library of current day as a third space- not where you work or live, but where you meet and gather with others. Her vision of the future is one where they have built a culture where the Howell Library exemplifies civility, compassion, empathy by a welcoming of differences and diversity. She believes they can build it into an institution where true listening and questioning for understanding is modeled and encouraged.

Lamb said that if you haven’t been to the library in what seems like forever, they likely aren’t what you remember. Gone are the days of card catalogs and dark, quiet environments. Physical books are still available, but now current day technologies have been implemented to ease user’s access to desired content. Lamb sees the library as valuable tool for not only making connections to information, but also other people, organizations, and common interests. She takes over as Library Director effective January 1st. (MK)