There’s a spirit of optimism in the air at the Strathmore Municipal Library. There’s also a new interim library director who has stepped into the role during Director of Library Services Rachel Dick-Hughes’ leave.

Anayo Ugboma, is brand new to Strathmore, but the soft-spoken new Interim Director of Library Services from the Strathmore Municipal Library is venturing out into the community, seeking new partnerships and learning about what great things the community has to offer.

Ugboma began working at the library on April 19, 2022. In his message to patrons of the library, he says, “I'm delighted by the warm welcome and support from the Board and staff. I'm confident that collectively we can deliver high-quality programs and advocate for library services in Strathmore. I have also had the opportunity to meet with a few stakeholders and partners in town and the Library will continue to partner with them to be a leading hub for information access in Strathmore.”

So far things have been great, he said.

“The energy and the people that are here, they have been welcoming,” he said. “The staff and the board have been very supportive. The pressure is not there of ‘you have to do this, or you have to do that’ there has been a lot of support from the board in this way,” he said.

Ugboma who has been on the job for two weeks also revealed that Strathmore Municipal Library was recognized during a Marigold Library System conference.

"I’m so privileged to be a part of it,” he said.

He explained that for the award the initial idea came from the library staff, and it pertained to their work in creating a repurposed space in the library facility to hold a local election.

"It was more of an innovative idea that the library was able to collaborate with the town to use this space,” he said.

The interim director said he finds Strathmore a nice community, so far he hasn’t had much time yet to explore all of the community.

In terms of projects or ideas that he would like to work on in his role as the interim director he said, “One thing that comes to mind is to build more partnerships with stakeholders in town. So I'm trying to still get to know the stakeholders. I've met a few of them, like FCSS,” he said. He hopes to use a few of those partnerships with stakeholders to promote children’s literacy and also lifelong learning.

Ugboma says he is not sure yet about the intricacies of those plans for partnerships, but he would definitely like to work on improving programs for children aged 0 to 5 and increasing community engagement as well.

He revealed that on the horizon, residents can look forward to new technologies that may be coming to the library as well.