Sue Woody became director of the Des Moines public library system in July after 14 years of work that involved everything from running the Rosie outreach program to handling community engagement and marketing.   

She’s excited about the prospects for a network she said is well-funded, diverse, customer-oriented and modern. “We aren’t the ‘Shhhh!’ place anymore,” she said with a laugh. 

The online resources have become substantial, she added. The hard-copy collections have grown mightily since the days when former director Elaine Estes begged the Des Moines City Council to provide more money for materials. Altogether, the six libraries’ collections have more than 550,000 items.

We asked Woody about her new role, and the libraries’ goals in the digital age.

You were working for the library when you got your current job. What did you do there?

When I joined the library 14-plus years ago, I started out as a half-time storyteller. Then I graduated to our Rosie outreach coordinator. Best job ever. You get to go out to Head Starts and day cares and underprivileged classrooms and bring a big selection of books and stuffed animals and friends and do story time, all over the city. I was the most popular person in the world, if you were under 3 feet tall.

That’s when I got my degree, so I went right into managing two of our locations, the South Side and Forest. That was a bad idea — we’re not doing that anymore.

Then I ran the community engagement and marketing. When this opportunity arose last July, I put my hat in the ring, because it was very important to me that we have someone local take this position.

Did you think you had a pretty good chance?

We haven’t had someone from within the ranks for many years. I had lots of experience. I had been working there for 14 years. I just wanted someone who wasn’t going to take a giant leap backwards. We need to go forward. So I applied. I’m so glad I did.

How is the early going?

I feel like we’ve jumped into a lot of initiatives, and so there are days when I’m drinking out of a fire hose, I feel like. But it’s only because there are so many great opportunities that we want to pursue. We keep telling ourselves we need to slow down, but we don’t. We need to keep moving forward. We’d like to start more partnerships and reach out to Des Moines public schools. I think there’s a lot of exciting things that we could do with them, starting with getting digital library cards for students, programming, teaching digital literacy skills.

Can the rest of us get digital library cards now?

No, not yet. We need a new website first. We’re trying to find a website that will have a sufficient mobile app with it.

What are your early goals?

Breaking down barriers. Identifying barriers and addressing them. For example, one of the barriers we discussed — why do we not allow patrons to access the internet if they have fines on their library cards? That doesn’t make sense. Yeah. People who need to access the internet because they don’t have internet at home need it more than anyone. If they have this barrier that’s given them, they need it more than anyone and we’re keeping them away from it because they owe $10? We eliminated that barrier. You can have fines on your account and still access the internet now.

Another change is the hours. We are so thankful to the city of Des Moines that with the 1-cent sales tax, we are going to be expanding our hours. Being open more evenings is not only going to increase our circulation and cards, but will offer the community more meeting space. We are hiring nine full-time equivalents and probably nine half-time workers to cover those hours.

We want to get rid of the stereotype of a fussy librarian. We want dynamic people who love working with other people, who want to be team players who want to be part of something exciting and new. We need people who embrace that and look for something new. And so it’s not just going to be ‘Do you have a library science degree?’ You know, we’re looking for people like Tim Paluch [a former Des Moines Register writer who now holds Woody’s previous job in community engagement].

We’re not a “shhh” organization any more. That is gone. We are not looking for people who are introverted and quiet. We want people who love serving, who have that service ethic, because that is what our business is all about. And everyone needs help in a different way.

Are you getting what you need for your collection budget?

I would say we have a very generous collection budget. The overall library budget is $8.4 million from the city, and we also have other outside funds, such as from our foundation. I want to say the collection budget is about 8 percent.

What is most fun about your job?

I think what I love doing most is going out to groups and telling them about all the library has to offer. And it doesn’t matter what group I’m going to, whether I’m going to PTO or to a group of Kiwanis or Rotarians, there’s something for everyone. They are surprised by what they could do without even stepping foot into a library. I started with telling stories to children at the library. And I love that and it energizes me. I love children and I am passionate about early literacy.

How are you wired?

I would say that I am a high-energy person. I really believe in servant leadership. I want to serve our staff the way that I want our staff to serve our community. The thing that is most important to me is constant communication. There’s so much going on at each location. They are all different. They all have their own personalities.

What are your interests outside of work?

I like to paint. I’ve painted cabinets. I’ve tiled backsplashes. I love working on those projects. I’m working on a lake home at Lake Panorama. It’s the smallest house on the lake. It’s very modest. We love it up there. I like to kayak. I love to read in my hammock. It’s my downtime. n