Lisa McKenney serves as the Executive Director of Allegany County Library System (ACLS) in Western Maryland, where she leads a dynamic team focused on community engagement and support. Throughout her thirty-plus-year career at ACLS, McKenney’s leadership has centered on securing funding, cultivating staff excellence, creating welcoming spaces and designing collections, programs and services that serve the needs of the people. Holding a Master of Education in English and Reading as well as a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS), McKenney believes that the library’s true impact lies in its ability to empower individuals and strengthen the broader community.
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What inspired you to become a librarian?
Short answer: a love of reading and helping people. Long answer: I started out my academic career thinking that I would become an English teacher but there was a newspaper ad for a part-time flexible position at the library that I applied for and was lucky enough to be selected for. Once I started working in the library, connecting patrons to the wealth of what we have to offer, I realized that a career as a public librarian was what I really wanted.
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What role do public libraries play in your community?
No one else does what the library does in the county. It’s true! Where else can you go in the community to shop around on the shelves and check out a bunch of stuff for free, use a computer to apply for a job, get tech support, learn how to make a candle, take a yoga class, get medical screenings, learn how to check out an e-book, learn how to play a musical instrument, play chess or Dungeons and Dragons, learn American Sign Language, take your child to a story time, or book a meeting room for voter registration, tutoring, Girl Scouts, Jaycees, HRDC, and LaVale Civic Association—for free? In the past 30 days, all of the above was happening at a branch of your local library.
We also serve a larger purpose. We have a loneliness epidemic. Some of the folks who come into the library are looking for social interaction—we know that we may be the only people they interact with that entire day and our staff do a great job building relationships as they help them set up their email accounts and find that large-print romance they want to read and make those folks feel welcome and help them to know they matter in this world.
Literacy is very important to me and developing a love of reading and creating a community of readers is at the forefront of my goals for the library. We have a lot of work to do in this area to improve literacy in Allegany County
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Tell us something you’re excited about that's happening in your library system right now.
The library is working on a proactive approach to help supplement our budget challenges. We are starting a Library Ambassadors Program, which is an advocacy and fundraising group which has been created as a way for the library to find new ways to sustain ourselves. There are a lot of people out there who want to help and we just need to share the specifics about the many ways that volunteers and supporters can play a role in sustaining the library for years to come.
The primary goal of Library Ambassadors is to broaden the library’s donor base, enhance its outreach, increase usage, and generate additional funds for vital resources, such as new book collections, free community programs and facility improvements. We will be sharing more about what we need and providing opportunities for people to help us.
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What is something about your libraries that people in the community might be surprised to learn?
Library of Things is always something that takes people by surprise, knowing that they can check out a power washer, an Elmo baking pan, or a food processor from their local library. Generally speaking, I have recently come to the conclusion that we need to rethink how we promote the library to our community by taking about 10 steps back to communicate in a relatable way that makes no assumptions that people know who we are and what we do. A recent discovery one of my colleagues shared was that when she finished speaking to a group, a woman came up to her to ask how to subscribe to the library. We need to introduce people to the library in very foundational ways.
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When you’re not at the library, how do you enjoy spending your time?
When not at the library, I spend time at home with my sister Kathy and our two Havanese dogs, Luke and Leia. I’m happy puttering around the house and enjoy cooking & baking, reading, and watching NASCAR races and Steeler games. We also like to travel and have been fortunate to go to many places over the years to have adventures.
