Library Notebook: Ward joins library as branch manager
Mallory Ward, the new branch manager at the Wythe County Public Library in Wytheville.
The Wythe County Public Library got a new branch manager in March. She is Mallory Ward and she comes by the job honestly, having been a reader from childhood.
She succeeds Sabrina Davidson, who has been named to the newly created position of assistant director of the Wythe-Grayson Regional Library system.
When she was growing up in Fries, Mallory and her parents and brother were regular library patrons. “I love libraries, I love to read. That’s where we’d go on weekends,” she said, to check out a bunch of books.
She graduated from Carroll County High School, earned an associate degree at Wytheville Community College, a bachelor’s degree online from Old Dominion University, and is now pursuing a master’s degree in library service.
She joined the Wythe-Grayson library system almost a year ago when she began working as a library assistant at the Grayson County Public Library. When the position of circulation supervisor opened up here at the Wythe County Public Library, she applied for the position and got it. Now she is the branch manager.
“I don’t see myself anywhere else but a library now,” she said. “Sabrina’s been really good about teaching me.”
Libraries offer more than books these days, but reading is still at the heart of them. Mallory’s own reading tastes are widespread. “I read just about everything,” she said, mainly on physical books but she has used Kindle and audiobooks on occasion. She has a fondness for fantasy, but enjoys all genres and is reading some non-fiction, too, these days.
Having just completed its Winter Reading Program, the libraries in Wythe and Grayson are now gearing up for a Summer Reading Program that will kick off at the end of May. Mallory also noted the start of a new book club at the Wythe County library, the Books & Brunch Club which selects a book to discuss over brunch on the last Saturday of each month. That’s in addition to other book clubs and activities such as “bingo, trivia and Movie Night that we all enjoy doing,” she said.
Today at the Wythe County library, Dungeons & Dragons gaming is at 10 a.m. and the Adult Coloring Club is at noon. The Fort Chiswell Public Library at Max Meadows has Storytime for preschoolers at 11 a.m., the theme being April Fool’s.
Next weekend, the Friends of the Wythe County Public Library have their monthly used-books sale on Friday and Saturday. It was postponed from this weekend because of the Good Friday library holiday this week, but you have an opportunity to make some good buys next Friday and Saturday at the little bookshop behind the main library.
Also coming up next week: The Meandering Mondays Book Club, a reader’s choice group, meets Monday at 1 p.m. at the Wythe County library.
Wednesday will be a busy day at the Wythe County library: Storytime for preschoolers Wednesday at 10 a.m., the theme being the weather; the Adult Coloring Club at noon, and Video Game Night starting at 6 p.m.
Friday is busy, too: The Writing Writers, for anyone interested in any kind of writing, meet at 10 a.m. at the Wythe County library, and the Twisted Stitchers get together to knit and socialize at 2 p.m. The Rural Retreat Public Library hosts Dungeons & Dragons gaming at 4 p.m.
The Wythe County library has many categories of books all processed since last time and ready to be checked out. Here they are:
Young Adult: Empire Of Storms: A Throne of Glass Novel by Sarah J. Maas.
Juvenile: Unsettling Salad! Bu Aaron Reynolds History's Greatest Games. Lionel Messi's World Cup Triumph by Chris. PAWS. 5, The Trouble With Leo by Nathan Fairbairn (graphic novel). Escape From Nuggetville by Jenine Pastores & Josh Jackson (graphic novel). Breakout by Christina Wyman. Whose Ears? by Kristina Jones (board book). Big Or Small! by Nancy Parent. Baby Loves Robotics! by Ruth Spiro (board book). Camp Monster by Kate Messner ; Illustrated by Falynn Koch (graphic novel.) The Greenies by Emma Mills (graphic novel). Adventure School by Monica Sanz. An Anthology of Flowers by Maddie Bailey. Colors by Claudia Rueda (board book). ABC Zoinks by Claudia Rueda (board book). You're a Winner, Gracie Wei by Kristen Mei Chase. Dragon Girl and the Awakened Flames by Jenny Moore. America The Beautiful by Jill De Haan (Easy Reader). An Epic History of Failure by Natalie Younger. Hide and Seek by Corey R. Tabor (Easy Reader). Bartle by Matt Phelan (Easy Reader). Awe! by Chana Stiefel (Easy Reader). Thank You, School by Louise Borden (Easy Reader). The Lost Robot by Joe Todd-Stanton (Easy Reader). Loops by Jashar Awan (Easy Reader). When You Dream Big! By Peter H. Reynolds (Easy Reader). Truckosaurus by Karen Shapiro (Easy Reader). Broccoli Is Trying To Kill Me by Katie Evans (Easy Reader).
Playaway: The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian. Basil's War by Stephen Hunter. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. All That Glitters by Diana Palmer. The Return by Nicholas Sparks. The English Wife by Lauren Willig. (A Playaway book is a small, all-in-one, pre-loaded digital audiobook player that requires no internet, Wi-Fi, or downloads. About the size of a deck of cards, it runs on a single AAA battery and allows users to plug in headphones or an auxiliary cable to listen immediately.)
Non-Fiction: The League of Wives The Untold Story of the Women Who Took On The U.S. Government to Bring Their Husbands Home by Heath Hardage Lee. Art But Make It Sports: Epic Matchups Where Art And Sports Collide by LJ Rader. How To Grow Food: Your Crop- by-Crop Guide to Growing, Cooking & Preserving by Huw Richards & Sam Cooper. We the Women: The Hidden Heroes Who Shaped America by Norah O'Donnell with Kate Andersen. You're In Good Company: The Art Of Friendship, Motherhood, and Showing Up by Ashlee Gadd. The Secret History of French Cooking: The Outlaw Chefs Who Made Food Modern by Luke Barr. IBS: Finding and Treating The Root Cause Of Irritable Bowel Syndrome by Izabella Wentz. Court Queens: Celebrate the Players, Teams, and History of Women’s Basketball by Emma Baccellieri & Jordan Robinson.
Graphic Novel: Soul Eater. 2, The Jet-Black Soul, Walk with Me by Atsushi Ohkubo. Soul Eater. 1, Listen to the Beat of the Soul by Atsushi Ohkubo. Solo Leveling: Volume 15, Side Stories. 2 by Disciples (Redice Studio), Original Story by Chugong.
Fiction: South Of Somewhere by T.I. Lowe. Red Dog Farm by Nathaniel Ian Miller. Mother Is Watching by Karma Brown. Under Water by Tara Menon. The Complex by Karan Mahajan. 33 Place Brugmann by Alice Austen. The Shock of the Light by Lori Inglis Hall. The Fountain by Casey Scieszka. Whidbey by T. Kira Madden. Missing by E.A. Jackson. I Love You Don't Die by Jade Song. Judge Stone by Viola Davis & James Patterson. The Spoil by Maile Chapman. Hooked: A Novel od Obsession by Asako Yuzuki. Only Spell Deep by Ava Morgyn. How to Hold Someone in Your Heart by Mizuki Tsujimura. I Am Agatha by Nancy Foley. Innamorata by Ava Reid. The Plans I Have for You by Lai Sanders.
