Walworth-Seely Public Library: Komorowski

Candace Komorowski
Candace G. Komorowski is one of the people in our neighborhood who has worked to help make the Walworth-Seely Public Library a true Gateway to Knowledge.
“I started volunteering in the library in December, 1993,” Komorowski said during our telephone interview. “It was only eleven hours a week, but then as circulation increased, a position opened up to work 20-hours a week. That meant I had to take the Civil Service Exam. I became a Certified Library Clerk in 1996.”
“The library staff used to do everything, but around this time,” Komrowski continued, “as the growth of the circulation and community increased, the library became computerized. We started to specialize in various areas. I learned how to use the Follett software system of entering barcodes, cataloging and became very familiar with processing the audio-visual materials.”
All the clerks enjoyed working with the folks who patronized the library. They got to know them on a personal basis through their reading tastes. It was not unusual for a new book to come in and they would know this patron or that would like to read it, so the book would go on hold until that patron came in and knew about the book. Sometimes it worked the other way around, too. A patron would read a great book and recommend it to the ladies in the library. Candy is still trying to catch up on all the books on her “list-to-read” that were recommended by patrons.
Mary Perry was the Director when Komorowski first started her volunteering. She worked with Library Clerks Alice Reynolds and Laural Madden. The Children’s Librarian was Sue Herman followed by Ruth Beck. Debbie Scheffler became the Director for a short stint with Liz O’Toole as the Children’s Librarian. When Mary Perry returned, she hired Marie Sanderson and Allison Lee as Library Clerk and expanded the Page Program to bring more teens into the library. Mary Zingerella came on board as the Director in 1998.
“Fiction was the most popular genre,” Komorowski remembered, “and that led in to the books-on-tape and CD’s. Mary Perry responded to patrons’ requests and really built up that section of the library. It filled the need our community’s commuters had to keep current on their reading.”
Komorowski received much of her computer training by taking advantage of the many, excellent, in-service courses through the Pioneer Library System and Rochester Regional Council Courses. The in-service workshops also presented ways of dealing with the public (The customer is always right!) and how to resolve the conflict if your personal feelings/opinions differ from the American Library Association (ALA) policies (such as: filters on the library computers or telling a youthful patron that THAT particupar book is not age appropriate. Staff members were trained and encouraged to follow ALA guidelines.
In 1999, when Komorowski left the Walworth-Seely Public Library, Elizabeth Bowby and Annie *were hired to take over her duties. Komorowski continued to put her skills to good use in the Wayne Central High School Library (now called the Media Center) and, eventually, in the Freewill Elementary School Media Center (now referred to as the Library Information Center).
During her non-library hours she enjoys being with her husband, George, spending time at their place at Chase’s Lake, gardening, and of course, catching up with there first grandchild, Carsten.
“We are always doing something different in the Library Information Center,” Komorowski laughed. “You come in in the morning and, before you know it, it’s time to go home. There just isn’t any time to get bored.”
Thank you, Candy, for all you have done for our libraries. You are a Walworthian with the accent on WORTH.
(NOTE: A version of this article first appeared in my Column Cornucopia in 07/10/2008 Wayne County Mail Newspaper. Copytight © 2008 by Kate Chamberlin)