Warminster Library Welcomes New Children's Librarian

It’s 1:15 p.m. and 26-year-old Katie Swallow is sitting behind the reference desk at the Warminster Free Public Library, underneath the 12 large lights that hang from the ceiling, three of which are burnt out. It seems like she’s doing research of some kind: leafing through books, pamphlets, and typing on her computer. The library is pretty quiet on this Thursday afternoon, aside from a continuous metallic buzz coming from the huge air conditioning vent on the ceiling and the occasional hushed conversation.

Swallow takes a piece of printer paper, folds it in half, and then carefully tears along the fold – creating two equal sized pieces. She closes a large, orange book and places it to the side. The library is cold and if it were a hot summer day, if it were not pouring and thundering outside, it would have felt refreshing.

Swallow starts folding one of the pieces of paper into triangular shapes, folding the triangles over top one another. She studies the new oddly shaped folded paper, looking at her creation with eyebrows raised and then back at the large, orange book. She puts the folded and wrinkled paper aside and is back on the computer. She starts over again on the other piece of sectioned off scrap paper.

Swallow is a fresh addition to the Warminster library. She was hired in February as the children’s librarian, replacing Joelle Pandey, who served as the children’s librarian in Warminster for several years. Swallow plans to follow some of Pandey’s methods, like holding events at KinderCare.

“I’m hoping to reach out to some of the groups that [Pandey] had already outreached to and find a few more” Swallow said.

Born in Seekonk, Mass., Swallow first discovered that she had a love for books when she was 4 years old.

“My mom use to read to us a lot. Me on one side, my brother on the other and she would read us picture books” Swallow said.

When she got older, Swallow would go to the library in Seekonk every Tuesday and pick out seven books. She would read one book each day, then go back the next Tuesday and get seven more.

“My favorite thing about reading” Swallow said, “Is being able to sort of live vicariously through the characters in the story; whether it’s a realistic situation that could happen to you or something totally fantastic that would never happen. I think it sort of gives you insight into people.”

Growing up, Swallow always had a wild imagination. Her younger brother and her use to pretend that their club house was a log cabin. One day they would be pioneers, settling into a strange new land and the next day they were cowboys and Indians, braving the Wild West.

The fond memories continued into her teen years, when Swallow and her brother co-purchased an $800 1990 Volvo station wagon that they nicknamed “Great White.”

“The passenger side back door wouldn’t open, so all our friends would have to climb in through the front” Swallow said.

After Swallow completed high school she went to library school at the University of Rhode Island, focusing primarily on children and teen services. Upon graduation, Swallow received her first library job at the free public library in Fairfield, N.J., acting as the children’s librarian where she spent the next three years, interacting with the community.

“My desk was right in the middle of the library, and I was there all day so I really got a feel for what [the kids] liked to read” Swallow said.

Fifteen minutes later, Swallow is still working on her mysterious paper project and begins to draw small marks on the page with a black pen. She studies the folded piece of paper, and then stares at the computer, then back at the paper. She looks confused, careful; concentrated.

It wasn’t until about a year and a half ago, when Swallow first met her now fiancé, Eric Hansen, that she first thought about moving to Bucks County. Hansen and his family all live in the area, so Swallow made the decision to start job hunting. When she saw an opening at the Warminster Library, she lunged for it. 

Needless to say, she nailed the interview. Starting Monday, Swallow will be hosting a weekly children’s story time. During which, she plans to have tons of fun activities for the kids to do.

“I really love doing crafts with the kids” Swallow said, “I love coming up with that creative programming. One of the things I feel strongly about is that, the library is about information and it’s about books and reading, but it’s also about being a place for the community to gather.”

Swallow wants to use crafts and parties to attract people and get them excited about reading. Sadly though, once they hit the fourth grade, the kids seem to all but disappear. How do you get teenagers to come to the library when you’re up against such exhilarating opposing forces like Facebook and the mall? Swallow has a plan. Swallow will be running some gaming programs, borrowing equipment from the Doylestown library. Also, the younger teenagers from her job in Fairfield liked doing duct tape crafts.

“It sounds so cheesy and so corny, but it’s so much fun” Swallow said.

It’s now 1:45 p.m. at the library and Swallow scurries around collecting more colorful books on her desk. She takes a huge stack of them into a room labeled, “STAFF” in gold lettering on a windowless door. Next to the door is a vending machine for do-it-yourself wallet photo lamination called, “U-Seal-It – a self adhesive clear plastic.” It cost 50 cents.

When Swallow reemerges from the top secret room, she cracks open a large, white book and begins to study it intensely. She’s back to measuring and folding. The telephone rings twice, but Swallow doesn’t flinch. Someone else answers the call from an unseen phone.  

Swallow and Hansen decided to get engaged after she moved to Southampton last month. They held off telling their families until Easter Sunday. After they returned from church they announced the engagement at Hansen’s grandmother’s house.

“His grandmother cried for a half hour and both his mother and sister were really excited” Swallow said.

The couple was first introduced by Hansen’s sister, who Swallow had met on an Internet forum.

Swallow said she plans to stay in Bucks County, that she loves it there and that it might be a little soon to be talking about it, but a few years down the road she’d like to have kids.

“I think I’d like to have three” she said, “Because that’s what I grew up with and I liked the dynamic of it, but you never know. I could have one and be perfectly happy with that.”

It’s not all sugar, spice, and everything nice though. As it turns out, Swallow happens to be a Red Sox fan, but she’s learning how serious Philadelphia is about its sports teams.

“I went to a baseball game and I realized that everyone around me was wearing Phillies shirts. I mean everyone. I was wearing a Flyers shirt though, so I felt like I was ok” Swallow said.

It’s 2:05 p.m. now and Swallow is still folding.

“It’s a grass hopper” she said, “I thought we could do origami for the craft at story time, but I don’t think I really know how to.”

It’s not long before Swallow is rushing off again, this time into adult non-fiction, looking for another craft book.