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By GERI PARLIN
La Crosse Tribune
God bless the teachers at St. James Elementary School. They’re the reason Chris McArdle Rojo became a librarian.
“When I was in fifth grade at St. James, I had to do a book report from the Dewey Decimal system,” she said with a laugh.
Though she’d always been a reader, that was her first real introduction to libraries, and McArdle Rojo fell in love.
While a student at Aquinas High School, she worked in the school library and when she moved to Eau Claire, Wis., she was hired by the public library there when she turned 16.
“I love this atmosphere.”
She majored in political science in college because she eventually wanted to become a law librarian. “My grandfather was an attorney.”
But what she discovered during her practicum was that she didn’t get enough contact with the public in a law library.
“I was devastated that it wasn’t what I thought it would be. I never interacted with anybody.”
So she earned her master’s degree and then found a job as a children’s librarian in Storm Lake, Iowa. A month before she left that job for one in Albert Lea, Minn., she met Mario Rojo, who later married her and followed her from library to library in one city after another.
After Albert Lea, she did a stint as director at the library in Austin, Minn. It was a beautiful new facility, and she was prepared to stay — if not forever at least for a long time.
But then the position of director of the La Crosse County Library system opened up. “My mom sent me the job application,” just in case her daughter was interested.
See Library, B-3
When McArdle Rojo was hired to fill the opening and finally moved back to the area in January 2003, her parents were just packing up to move out of town so the Rojos bought their house on French Island.
That makes the Campbell Library the place where she and her family check out books. But her offices are in the library in Holmen and she spends lots of time filling in at the library in Onalaska. There are also county libraries in Bangor and West Salem.
The county libraries don’t have as firm an identity as the La Crosse Public Library, McArdle Rojo said, because the communities own the library buildings and the county owns the books and materials and provides all the services.
It can be confusing, she said, but she’s made efforts to get the country library system in line with the La Crosse Public Library so patrons can feel comfortable using either library system.
And because she and Kelly Krieg-Sigman, the La Crosse Public Library director, started within months of each other, it’s made collaboration easier, said McArdle Rojo. “Kelly and I came in with clean slates.”
If you haven’t stopped at the library in your community in a few years, you may be surprised at the changes that technology has brought to the county libraries, McArdle Rojo said.
“Just stop in and check out your email,” she suggested, since that’s what many people do now that they have loved ones serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
But don’t stop at email. There is so much more librarians can help you do with a computer, she said. “The information access out there is just incredible.”
And while popular materials are their strength, the county librarians will help patrons look up information or direct them to other resources that may be helpful.
And if you can’t find the book or video or DVD that you want at your favorite county library, librarians will be able to help you find it from a neighboring library, McArdle Rojo said.
“It’s all about cooperation.”
Geri Parlin can be reached at gparlin@lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8225.
Jeff wrote on Sep 4, 2006 11:09 AM: