Meet A Member: Martha Hutzel

What is your VLA position?
Past President

What do you hope to accomplish in your time as an elected member of the VLA Executive Committee?
To continue the highest level of professionalism of the organization.

Where do you work?
Fredericksburg, Virginia

What is your current position?
Library Director, Central Rappahannock Regional Library

When did you first know that you wanted to be a librarian?
When I was in my early 30s, and had three school-age children! We went to the library a lot, and I was working part-time at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library. When I accepted a full-time job at the CRRL in 1993, I realized I wanted to make it a career. I started library school in 1995 and have been with the CRRL ever since!

What was your first library job?
My freshman year at the University of Cincinnati. I was a work study student in the magazine room.

What is your favorite part of librarianship?
The people we serve, the people we work with, and all the new ideas and books!

What is the funniest thing that has ever happened to you on the job?
"Taking a call from a woman who wanted us to tell her how much castor oil she should drink so she could go into labor! Her nurse midwife had told her to drink the stuff, but it was a long distance call in those days to the nurse midwife, and she was ""past-due pregnant"" as she said. Couldn't the librarians just look it up for her and tell her how much so she didn't have to incur a long distance phone charge??"

If you could have anything in the universe installed in your office for your personal use, what would it be?
Something that would make our budget never be an issue!

What is something your colleagues would be surprised to know about you?
I'm probably not as liberal as most people I work with!


Interviewed by Gregg Grunow

Want to be featured on Meet a Member? Email Gregg at [email protected].
Don't miss the other entries in our Meet A Member — Leadership Edition.