Member Voices: A Q&A with Christina Pommer

Spring 2020

Christina Pommer
Library Director 
Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School
Bradenton, Florida


This is an excerpt from the NAIS Member Voices podcast.

Tell us about your role. How did you get here?

After I graduated from college with degrees in writing and political science, I worked in the high school I attended as the assistant director of admission. Seeing how the librarian was a resource for the students and how they hung out there, the library was a place I wanted to be in my next role.

When I was looking for a job after graduate school, I saw Saint Stephen’s library space—with so much light—and I couldn’t believe that I might get to work there. I am now the librarian for our middle and high school, and I also work with our lower and intermediate school librarian. I oversee and ensure our alignment—how research builds from kindergarten through 12th grade, and what reading looks like in different grades. I have some of those bigger picture conversations, but I always enjoy the days when I have classes come in. I often find students waiting for me in the morning to ask questions or to proofread a paper. I appreciate that one-on-one time with kids.
   

How has your role changed over time? 

Libraries are invaluable. Critical thinking is so important and the role that libraries play—as a place for students to go and think—can be part of that broader discipline of scholarship. I love helping kids find quick answers—they can get to the deeper thinking much more easily, and so I appreciate the internet. But it has changed what the library looks like. You used to have to go to a library to access the library resources. Most independent schools have far more electronic sources that students can access without even going to the library for print books. I’m keeping track of user statistics and making sure students know why we have specific subscription databases and why they might be more valuable than a Google search.

How would you like to grow in your role? 

The school has offered me many opportunities to grow; most recently, I was the co-chair of our accreditation committee with our director of technology. I was surprised how much I enjoyed that kind of large-scale project management. I was curious to see how all of the parts come together. I can talk about libraries and research all day, but I can’t always describe a second grade classroom. Being part of that process was very helpful to me in terms of seeing all of the priorities that administrators deal with in running a school.

What’s your communication style? 

I tend to be pretty direct. I’m also approachable—my desk is right out where the kids can ask questions when they have them. I get to overhear a lot of their conversations. And because I know them when they’re younger, and I’m not somebody who evaluates them, they feel comfortable talking to me. It’s been helpful for some of the quieter students, and they know they don’t need to make an appointment with me. In working with highly pressured students, I’ve found that they are very concerned about succeeding. I tell them to come and talk to me. I might not get them where they’d like to be in terms of a final product, but I can certainly point them in the right direction. 

What’s the best advice you’ve received? 

In all interactions, assume good intent. If we picture other people coming with their best selves and take them at their word, it helps work toward compromise.

What’s your proudest moment? 

I coach the academic team, and in 2016, we were the state champions. A photo capturing the emotion on their faces—the surprise and disbelief—after the final question was the backdrop for my computer for more than a year afterward. I’m always proud of my teams when they perform to their ability, but I remember just how hard they had worked for it and how much it meant to them. 

What are you reading right now?

I get hesitant when people ask me what they should read only because I’m a librarian. Recently, I’ve been reading sociology books. Mortician Caitlin Doughty has a new book called Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?: Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death. It’s all the questions that children ask about death; she says adults don’t ask such interesting questions. I’m also reading Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond, and I recently read Colson Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys.

What’s the first thing you do on campus every day?

I bike to school. The bike rack is between the two buildings, and I always joke with people that I have the best parking spot at the school. I check my email right away because sometimes there are some surprises with classes wanting to book the library that day or teachers asking if I have time to meet. Then, I see students who have papers that are due first period, and they have questions about printing or want a proofread. There’s a lot of conversation with students before 8 a.m. 

Are there any items on your desk that have special meaning to you? 

The academic team isn’t allowed to have official mascots that they can take to the table, so we bought them “pocket mascots,” which are nautically themed and about an inch long. I keep them on my desk and the kids borrow them every meet and return them afterward—looking at them is a good memory.

Is there something about you that few people know? 

When I was younger, I was incredibly forgetful, so no one in my family would let me use their library cards. I have worked to change that, and I now have compassion for students, who sometimes forget things. 

Are you able to unplug from your role pretty easily? 

I’m disciplined about plugging my phone in when I get home. There’s a place in the kitchen where the iPad and the phone both live so that they’re not distracting me throughout the evening. I could be better in terms of a balance with the computer. Despite our best intentions for getting students to work ahead, they don’t, and so I like to have my email open. I usually check in shortly before going to bed and then first thing in the morning.

What would you do with one more hour in your day? 

As a librarian, I’m supposed to say that I would read more, which I would do some, but I would also spend more time outside. I want to get better at cooking. My husband, who’s a teacher at the school, and I try to cook from scratch a few times each week. I also enjoy having longer conversations, so if I had extra time, there would be no issues filling it. 

Library Director Christina Pommer works with middle and high school students./Photos by Barbara Banks
 
Listen to the full interview with Christina Pommer on the NAIS Member Voices podcast. Download it now at iTunes, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher, or Google Play. Rate, review, and subscribe to hear a new episode each month.

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