The Horseshoe Bend Regional Library now has a new library director.
The regional library supports and advises 10 local libraries including Alexander City’s Adelia M. Russell Library, Auburn Public Library, Eclectic Public Library, Millbrook Public Library, Rockford Public Library, Wetumpka Public Library, Dadeville Public Library, Goodwater Public Library, Opelika Public Library and Tallassee Community Library.
Under the regional library, state funding is pooled so that the funds can aid libraries in the area both big and small. As such, the library works with the member library directors and county commissioners who aid the regional library.
“We have state support, we have support from the local libraries, we have support from the various counties and city governments that we work with,” new regional library director Samantha Brasher Godsy said. “We all partner together to be able to meet the needs of the communities that are served by the individual libraries and the overall counties that they are situated within.”
Godsy has been involved with libraries for nearly 20 years. She is a self-proclaimed library kid and while she started volunteering at her local library when she was 12, she never envisioned making a career out of it until a few years ago.
While attending University of Montevallo for a Bachelor of Science in environmental stewardship, Godsy interned at the Gardendale-Martha Moore Public Library. After college, she worked there for three to four years then moved out of the area after getting married.
Looking for jobs in the Auburn area, she was first hired as a part-time public service library assistant. Godsy would work at the Auburn Public Library for nearly seven years with her last position being in the engagement and outreach division.
Throughout her time at the Auburn Public Library, she eventually went back to school to get her Master of Library and Information Science from Valdosta State University.
After working in Auburn for a while, Godsy was looking for a new creative, professional challenge when the Horseshoe Bend Regional Library director position came up. While it was daunting to get started, Godsy said she’s excited to take everything she learned about outreach, meeting communities and maximizing the impact libraries can have.
“The reason I ultimately landed here, and I think I was supposed to, was because I just love providing opportunities for people to access information,” she said. “I love putting people in contact with the information that they need and making sure that those who probably have the least options for accessing that information are my first priority. And Horseshoe Bend does that really well.”
Not only does the regional library provide support for its member libraries, but it also aids underserved populations. The regional library director supervises librarians who run the bookmobile and outreach vehicle — meeting the needs of those who can’t physically come to their local library. Godsy said on a monthly basis these outreach programs go to nursing homes, assisted living, daycares, pre-schools, Head Starts, homeschool families and homebound individuals. Godsy hopes to expand these programs to visit correctional facilities possibly within the next year.
The regional library also has tons of genealogy material for Tallapoosa County and surrounding counties. For Tallapoosa County specifically, the regional library is the county’s passport acceptance facility. Passport applications are accepted from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and Friday by appointments only.
As the new library director, Godsy lives in Salem within unincorporated Lee County with her husband and two kids, her 13-year-old stepson and nearly two-year-old daughter. Together, they have a rescue Pitbull named Toph from the Avatar: The Last Airbender series.
Outside of the library, Godsy spends her time gardening and doing her own genealogy research.
