Those who have visited the local library recently may have noticed a new face. Donna Thiessen is currently serving in the role of interim General Manager.

Thiessen explains how although she is fairly new to the library environment she's already had a broad spectrum of experience.

"I've been working actually in different libraries for the past 3 years. I've worked at the Polytech, the North Battleford Public Library at the University of Saskatchewan, and at the Saskatchewan Health Region Health Library in Saskatoon. So I've got short but broad experience in libraries."

Prior to her library work, Thiessen worked for the city of Saskatoon including ten years with the Saskatoon Police Service. 

In regards to what attracted her to the new role, Thiessen says that she believes public libraries play an important role in our community and she is enjoying exploring Saskatchewan through libraries. When she saw the job posting she says it appealed to her on both a personal and professional level as her grandparents lived in Swift Current and she has quite a lot of family at this end of the province. 

The interim role is short, however, Thiessen reflects on her focus while in the role being a customer-based approach.

"So some of the things I have been looking at are the ways we do displays, how we can make sure people have access to more up to date material and I think in the times of COVID, often service trips can be quite short. People will come into a location and look for something quickly."

In addition, Thiessen says she is trying to be conscious of this and provide people with the resource they might be looking for. She says they are also looking at programming and in this period she believes people are looking for a social outlet that the library can provide so they are examining how to do this safely. 

Thiessen's focus will be on how to provide the best service they are able to during the pandemic period.

In response to her time here so far, Thiessen says it has been an absolute pleasure and she is looking forward to spending more time here and getting to know the community better.