DECEMBER 17, 2009 ISSUE
Caruso to Begin as County Librarian January 4
Monica Caruso will join the Watauga County Public Library staff as county librarian on Monday, January 4. Photo submitted
The Appalachian Regional Library (ARL) recently announced that Monica Caruso has been hired as county librarian for the Watauga County Public Library, effective January 4, 2010.
The ARL Board met on November 19 and approved the hiring of Caruso on the recommendation of the Watauga County Library Board.
“Everyone agreed on her,” said Appalachian Regional Library System Director Louise Humphrey.
Humphrey explained that she, Watauga County Library Board Chair Dot Barker, and Watauga County Library Board members Hugh Hagaman, Audrey Hartley and Tish Rokoske selected Caruso to fill the position.
“[Caruso is] very personable [and] very excited about moving to Boone,” Humphrey said. “She’s bringing a lot of new ideas with her, and she is bilingual. We’re hoping to utilize that, as well.”
Caruso most recently served as the coordinator of Latino services at the Hartford Public Library in Connecticut and, prior to that, as community librarian in the same system.
She was formerly the reference/literacy librarian at the New Haven Public Library in Connecticut.
Caruso earned a Master of Library Science degree at Kent State University in Ohio and a Bachelor of Science in elementary education at the University of Akron, and she is certified as a public librarian by the North Carolina Public Librarian Certification Commission.
Caruso is bilingual in English and Spanish and served as the state coordinator and vice president of REFORMA (the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-speaking), an affiliate of the American Library Association.
Caruso currently resides in Matthews and will move to Boone at the end of December.
A reception for Caruso will be held sometime after January 4, Humphrey said.
Caruso succeeds John Blake as county librarian.
As High Country Press reported on July 9, Blake said he was forced to resign his position of 4.5 years as Watauga County librarian on Monday, July 6, without any explanation of the cause or circumstances. Humphrey later admitted she had made the decision about Blake, which was in contradiction to library bylaws that give personnel authority to the local library board. Later in the fall, however, both the county and regional library boards accepted Blake’s resignation.
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