Erin Lawrence
While Culver Union Township Public Library Director Erin Lawrence may be relatively new to the library staff, she isn’t new to the area.
a lifelong resident of Marshall County, Erin grew up between Plymouth and Culver. after graduating from Plymouth High School, she attended Indiana Wesleyan University for English and Writing. While in college, she worked at the bookstore at the Culver academies during the summers.
“I got involved with the Maxinkuckee Players when I was in college as well. So I did that for a few summers,” Erin said.
Erin’s academic journey didn’t end after she graduated with a Bachelor’s in English and Writing. It was just on pause for a time.
“It was probably ten years later, I decided to go back to grad school and get a degree in Library and Information Science,” she said.
after finishing her graduate program at the
University of Illinois, she decided to return to the area to be closer to her family.
For about eight years, Erin worked at the St. Joe County Public Library working in various positions. In the later part of 2020, the director’s position opened up in Culver and she didn’t wait to apply.
“I thought it was too good an opportunity to pass up,” she said.
Erin went on to explain that she “wanted to get back to her small town roots, make more community connections that were more personal, more meaningful for me and for the community.”
She explained that it wasn’t until later in her life that she recognized librarianship as her profession. “I don’t know why it never really occurred to me until a little later, but I was excited to find librarianship because it seems like a really good fit for me. It’s a way to give back to people and communities and really invest in something that I love which is books and reading and learning. I find that very motivating personally and I like to share that passion with other people.”
Her decision to study English and Writing came from Erin’s love of story. “English and writing was just naturally right up my alley. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with that undergraduate degree, of course, but I wanted to study something that I was passionate about and interested in.”
Erin explained that librarianship is an interesting profession. “You kind of have to have an awareness to a lot of different things and especially if you’re going to be an administrator or a library director of a small library in a small community such as this one, you kind of have to wear a lot of hats.”
Something that wasn’t taught in her graduate program was business management. “Even though public libraries are not-for-profit organizations, and essentially government entities, you’re essentially running a business even though there’s no profit.”
When asked what she enjoys most about her job, Erin said that there wasn’t just one thing. “One of my very favorite things to do is collection maintenance. And making sure that the collections we have on our shelves are attractive and relevant and enticing to our patrons and to the community. Making sure that those resources are vital to their needs and applicable to their needs and interests. I think that’s so critical because we do have limited space as a public library. All public libraries have limited space. So we need to be really on top of our game to make sure that our collections and what we’re offering to the public are relevant and interesting and engaging. And that is the one piece of my job that I absolutely love.”
She also said that she found that she likes coordinating some of the renovation projects that are happening at the library.
“The library board here has just been wonderful to work with and I certainly enjoy every time I have the opportunity to meet with them and work on projects or hold meetings. They’re a really great group of people who have a passion for the community and a passion for the library. And that really matters in a library board,” Erin said.
When asked what she likes to read, Erin responded that “I really enjoy reading about women in history. And not necessarily the notable women that everyone knows about. More of the women that have been forgotten in history and their experiences in pivotal moments in time.”
“Never a dull moment,” Erin says about working in a library. “And I don’t think anyone would expect a library job to be exciting or chaotic, but it certainly can be.”