Upper Skagit Library in Concrete with new director
CONCRETE - The Upper Skagit Library's new director, Loly Gomez, says she hopes to bring joy and inspiration to the people of Concrete.
"Concrete is an amazing place," Gomez said. "... You can find people with amazing stories of life, and they are here together ... We want to mix them, put them together, and do something great."
Gomez took over as director on July 1. She has worked at the library since 2018 and most recently served as interim director and assistant director, where she learned to run the library efficiently.
Prior to living in Skagit County, Gomez lived in Venezuela, where she grew up on a small island that she says has a similar feel to Concrete.
"The big difference is that people speak English, and the weather is different," she said of living in Concrete. "I'm used to little communities."
In Venezuela, Gomez was a computer science professor, but she left the country in 2017 due to political turmoil.
She originally moved to Florida, but then moved to Sedro-Woolley because the state has cheaper electricity, which her friend needed to run a Bitcoin mining facility. When that facility closed in 2018, she began working for the Upper Skagit Library.
While Gomez said she misses being a professor, she gets the same satisfaction from working at the library.
Regarding her leadership style, Gomez said she does not believe in leading from the top. Instead, she leads from the front.
"I think you need to be in front to see what is going on in front of you, and tell your people, 'Hey, to the left, to the right,' because my job is to give them a good environment, protect them, and try to take from them the best they can do for this community and for themselves," Gomez said.
In addition, she said she values nonhierarchical collaboration and feedback, which she sees as part of effective leadership.
"I think people see leadership like a person living in another universe, and that is not fair, because if you don't have an honest and open communication with the people you are working with, you fail," she said.
When asked about her aspirations for the library, Gomez said she wants to improve the community by helping reduce food insecurity, homelessness and a lack of inspiration.
"I know how difficult life can be," Gomez said. "Believe me, I'm from Venezuela, and I know when the people tell you, 'No, you can't. Don't do that.' Over time, you believe in them. I want to help this community to delete all those 'no' and put more 'yes, you can.'"
Gomez is also using her computer science background to build a system that centralizes library management.
She said the system helps manage finances, reconcile records with reports from the Skagit County Treasurer's Office, handle staff scheduling and payroll, organize library programs and events, display incident reports submitted to the library and track grants, contracts, insurance policies and important deadlines.
"Since we're a public agency, transparency has been one of my biggest priorities while designing it," Gomez said. "My goal has been to reduce paperwork, make our operations more organized, and give our staff more time to focus on serving the community instead of administrative tasks."
In addition to these changes, Gomez said the library has expanded its hours to provide additional access for working families, students and community members.
On July 1, the library's hours were extended to 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Starting July 20, the library will be open on Mondays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. as part of a pilot program. It is currently closed on Mondays.
Monday access will be evaluated based on community usage and feedback.
This month, the library is also implementing a new schedule for the third Thursday of each month.
Hours will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the facility reopening at 5:30 p.m. after a staff development and planning meeting.
At 5:30 p.m., there will be a 30-minute Q&A session with Gomez, followed by the monthly Board of Trustees meeting at 6 p.m.
As Gomez settles in as library director, she said she is excited to continue working with a community she loves.
"I know we are just a library, but being a library is also an inspirational place," Gomez said.
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