Carla Old hired to manage library, with expanded hours
Craig resident Carla Old has been hired to be the part-time library manager of the Craig County Public Library.
The library will expand its hours starting May 1 to 10 a.m.-7 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday; Tuesday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
The new hours will be posted to the library website, craiglibrary.org. Call the library at 864-8978 for more information.
“I am so glad for this opportunity to serve Craig County and support this valuable community resource. I plan to continue the work of Marguerite Noga by expanding our collection of resources and keeping the library running smoothly, efficiently, and cheerfully,” said Old. Noga was the first professional part-time library director, who moved on after more than three years to take a full-time library position with Roanoke schools.
“My first priority is to get to know you and find out what you want and need from your library,” Old wrote in her introduction on the library’s webpage. She is encouraging library patrons to introduce themselves to her and test her by asking if she remembers their names the next time they see her.
Old is a Hollins College graduate with a wide range of work and volunteer experiences who has worked for Wilderness Adventure at Eagle Landing, trained service dogs for St. Francis Service Dogs and led the 4-H Pet Club. Currently she co-leads the 4-H Cloverbud Club and, with her family, is active in Craig Valley Baptist Church as a Sunday school teacher and choir director.
She and her husband, Greg, have lived in Craig County for 12 years. He is a retired teacher from Roanoke County Schools and now works in the meat department of IGA Mick-or-Mack in New Castle.
The Olds have five children, three of whom are currently homeschooled. The children are active in the Go and Chess Club that meets at Craig County Middle School, and compete in 4-H shooting events.
Members of the Craig County Public Library Board of Trustees explained they have not given up the idea of looking for a part-time library director later. They said after Old settles into her new role of managing day-to-day business, staffing and patron and program needs of the library, library board members intend once again to look for a part-time librarian with library credentials to add to the staff.
Professional librarian Noga was the library’s first director, working 20 hours a week for more than three years.
“She was a wonderful gift to our small library, and replacing her after she took a full-time position” as a school librarian in Roanoke proved a major challenge for the county, said Martha Murphy, who is the Craig County Board of Supervisors’ liaison to the library board.
Meanwhile, Betty Smith, who is library assistant, along with members of the CCPL Board of Trustees and other volunteers are continuing the library’s projects and keeping the library’s doors open to the public as much as possible, said Murphy. “This library is a tremendous gift to our County of Craig citizens!” she added.
