Maria Johnson, Librarian, Dartmouth Library
Maria Johnson, Librarian, Dartmouth Library
Who are you? Maria Johnson, and I’m the longest serving librarian at Dartmouth Library.
What is your job? My job title is First Assistant at Dartmouth Library, which means I’m the second in charge! Rowena Marshall is the boss here, but we share a lot of the management jobs and when she’s not here I step into her shoes
How long have you worked there? I’ve worked at Dartmouth Library for 12 years, but when I started the library was nothing like it is now. It was in an old chapel in Newcomen Road and although the library was always well loved, it was tiny and totally inaccessible for lots of people. It was a bit out of the way, up some steep steps, and people had been campaigning for a new library for about 40 years!
In 2005 we moved into the new, purpose-built library within the Flavel community arts centre – it was marvellous! Suddenly we had all this space. People could get in, we were central, and business went mad – in that first year the queue at the counter was often eight deep. It was exhausting but lovely – things have calmed down a bit now but it was wonderful to have that reaction. The library is still incredibly popular, with local residents but also with those who visit on holiday and who come and go by boat. We have twice the regular number of people through the doors in the summer holidays.
I love the new library. It means we can offer so much more.
Do you live nearby? I live in Townstal with my husband and our children.
Can you tell us about your family? Peter, is a music teacher at Kingsbridge Community College. Our eldest daughter, Emily, is in her first year at Cardiff University. She’s studying archaeology and she loves it. Rosie, our other daughter, is at Kingsbridge Community College doing her A levels.
What do you like to do when you are not at work? I love to cook and I also grow vegetables. I have an allotment at Jawbones Hill – a great spot because it is very free draining, but I have to go over there by car and I can’t get there as often as I would like. This means I can’t grow things that need a lot of attention, so I tend to go for potatoes, peas, leeks and soft fruit.
Of course I also read a lot and have loved books since I was a child. But there weren’t many books for teens when I was younger so I seemed to go straight from Enid Blyton to Dorothy L Sayers and Agatha Christie, and for a long time I got stuck on crime fiction. I started up a book club at the library with the aim of encouraging myself and the others to read more widely and it has really worked. We’ve tackled everything, often things we wouldn’t normally choose but which have been well received – anything from Graham Greene to fantasy literature. We meet on a Wednesday afternoon when the library is closed and discuss the books over tea and biscuits. Rowena runs a book club here too. That’s on a Thursday evening between 6pm and 7pm.
Have you ever worked anywhere else? Well, I was a child bride and married at 18! I was born and brought up at Deal in Kent where the Royal Marine School of Music used to be – and that’s where all the local girls went to find husbands! Pete was in a Royal Marine Band and we moved around from place to place, buying old houses which I was in charge of doing up. When he came out of the band we bought a smallholding in Lancashire, renovated the ruinous farmhouse and I also worked at the farm next door (which was very hard work!) We then moved to Aviemore and Pete was a postman, and that’s where we had the children. But we realised you can’t live on scenery so we had a think, realised the only place we had been truly happy was Dartmouth, and moved straight back with no house and no work. We rented while Pete trained to be a teacher, and it was the best move we ever made.
What is the best thing about your job? It’s the public service aspect – making a difference to people’s lives. Libraries are often thought of as fusty boring places where librarians do nothing but stamp books all day, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. No two days are ever the same. When people come in here we don’t just give them a book to read - for our elderly customers we are sometimes the only people they see and chat to all day. And it makes such a difference when we teach someone how to use the internet so they can come in and talk to their great grandson in Australia. It transforms lives and is so rewarding. With visiting poets, musicians, storytellers, activities, visits to places like the Children’s Centre, workshops, history research groups and visitors popping in to keep track of their emails, there is never a dull moment!
First Published February 2010 By The Dart