When parents tell Emaline Bergeron that their children play “library” at home, taking turns being Miss Emaline at a pretend storytime, the new director of the Dublin Public Library says her face flushes.
“Kids are the most important and I find them to be the truest versions of humans,” she said. “The fact that I’ve impacted them in a way that makes them feel seen and heard and inspired is beyond my wildest dream.”
Bergeron, of Peterborough, stepped into the director’s role on April 1, after three years as a circulation assistant. But her path to the desk in Dublin took a few turns along the way.
She grew up in Jaffrey, where she spent long afternoons at the public library. She remembers “James and the Giant Peach” by Roald Dahl as the book that hooked her. She studied psychology, considered becoming a therapist, then moved into education where she worked in the school library. Eventually, Bergeron found herself doing case management work with children in crisis.
She burned out.
“I had been pulled out of the library to do that type of work,” Bergeron said. “I decided I was going to take a break.”
The Dublin Town Library was hiring a part-time assistant and Bergeron applied. She was hired and she loved it.
“I said, ‘Why not try it for a while and see if that could kind of be a healing experience and heal my nervous system around the books that have always been very grounding for me,'” she said. “So I took that job and the more time I spent here, the more aligned I felt with that direction and that this was really the path that I was meant to be on.”
That made it an easy choice to throw her hat in the ring when former director Karen Madigan announced she was retiring. Bergeron was hired and immediately enrolled at the University of Rhode Island’s Master of Library and Information Studies program on the leadership track. Classes start this fall.
“Librarian is a very important title,” she said. “If you didn’t go get that kind of master’s, you feel worried and nervous about ever calling yourself that.”
The library, which turns 125 on July 25, has a solid history shaped by women. Its collection had been scattered among a pub, a church and a doctor’s home, until Eliza Farnham, who summered in Dublin, commissioned an architect and paid for the present building after her husband’s death. Five women have served as director since. Two of them had a combined 100 years on the job.
“A deep history of women leading this library and protecting access and information,” Bergeron said. “That is something I’m really inspired by.”
She has built much of her own programming around children. Her Creative Club, an after-school program offered Mondays and Tuesdays, includes tutoring and crafts. Her Wednesday storytime draws about 30 attendees and is followed by a homeschool group. The junior section is organized by genre and color-coded so children can navigate independently. Patrons of all ages still stamp their own books at checkout — a nostalgic touch the staff has decided to keep.
“We’re inviting them in every way we can,” Bergeron said.
Looking ahead, she said the library is working toward three main priorities: accessibility, community building and sustainability. Plans include a junior librarian program, which would bring children behind the desk to write book reviews and recommendations, a media lab in the downstairs programming room that could host a library podcast, an expanded kitchen for food literacy programming, and new support groups for caregivers.
Free library cards are available to anyone, not just Dublin residents.
“We’re truly everyone’s library,” she said. “Everyone belongs here.”
Next month, Bergeron will travel to Washington, D.C., to represent the library at the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ 250th library convening, where she has signed up as a storyteller. She plans to tell the Dublin library’s story to a national audience June 10.
“Being of service is the most important thing I’ve ever done in my life,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of different jobs. I’ve been a server, I’ve been a hairstylist. I’ve always found a way to be of service to my community. Now that I’ve gotten to align it with books and with communities. I just feel like the luckiest girl in the world.”
