River Falls Public Library Director Tanya Misselt, addressed the club after she completed her first year in River Falls. Saying her last name is pronounced "like mistletoe without the o," Tanya proceeded to provide a brief history of how she ended up at the River Falls library after first starting a career in criminal justice. She also briefly outlined some of the services the library offers. Tanya is shown here at left with Rotary President Chris Blasius.
River Falls Public Library Director Tanya Misselt, MLIS addressed the club after she completed her first year in River Falls. Saying her last name is pronounced "like mistletoe without the o," Tanya proceeded to provide a brief history of how she ended up at the River Falls library after first starting a career in criminal justice.
Tanya said that her worldview as a young person was enhanced through the visitors her father, a sociology professor, would entertain. She grew up in the midwest and attended college in Madison, but joked that she realized that she would have to get a doctorate in order to do anything other than mall surveys. And so she branched off into criminal justice, first working in probation and parole and then finding work as a police officer in the Appleton, Wisconsin police department.
She worked patrol for seven years and concentrated in sensitive crime and juvenile law, including handling sexual assault complaints and serving as police liaison officer at the high school.
Upon starting a family, she left law enforcement and "saw a whole different world." During her seven years at home raising children, she worked part time at the library. It was her mom who suggested she become a librarian.
She became the children services supervisor and went on to learn about the connection between reading to small children early childhood brain development, and how it affects the quality of life and where people end up in life.
"If children go to kindergarten prepared to learn to read, the chances of their life trajectory being positive is much better," she said. "Drug abuse, early pregnancy, divorce and incarceration rates rise with kids who don't go into school ready to learn to read."
She became a huge proponent in early childhood education learning to read, and became involved with the Reach out and Read program in River Falls. Reach out and Read is a physicians initiative wherein doctors encourage parents to read to their children during well child visits, as well as providing reading material as part of the yearly checkup.
She came to River Falls last year and was immediately impressed with the library and the amazing staff. She encouraged everyone to check out the library for so much more than books, including:
- Youth and Adult reading programs
- Youth activities over the summer
- Book clubs and reading lists
- Digital magazines
- Research and learning tools like Badger Link and Lynda.com
- and more!