Gina Roberson ate a lot of marshmallows and chocolate syrup.
Earlier this summer, the Valencia branch of the Santa Clarita Public Library was doing its version of a top chef program with local kids, and Roberson and another library employee had a little more than their share of “meals” to try.
“The kids came in,” Roberson said, “and they got their supplies, and some of them were just so proud to demonstrate like, ‘I made this’ and ‘This was my concept’ and ‘This was my idea, what do you think?’ And so, we had the opportunity to judge. I judged and the director of human resources and library services also judged.”
And while testing the sweet gelatin-whipped confections and the chocolate-flavored sauce might not have been the easiest food to stomach and probably a sure-fire way of triggering a sugar crash, Roberson, Santa Clarita Public Library city librarian, couldn’t help but smile because the library had become the kids’ space, she said.
“Maybe these aren’t the ones who are more focused on what the next book series is,” Roberson told The Signal from behind her desk at the Valencia branch of the Santa Clarita Public Library, “but the library was able to offer something that catered to their interests, and they took pride in it. It was really rewarding to see kids in programs that aren’t necessarily reading programs. They’re not in book clubs, they’re not in literacy clubs, and they’re not in story times, but they’re given an opportunity to demonstrate their strengths and what it is they care about most.”
Roberson, now 37, fell in love with libraries when she was about 12 years old living in San Bernardino. The library was her first autonomous space where she was able to choose what she wanted to learn and explore.
“I grew up in the library,” she said. “My parents were both working parents, so they didn’t always have time to take us. I actually found the library when I was allowed to walk there.”
As she got more familiar with the library, she’d volunteer for reading programs and participate in arts and crafts activities. It became a very comfortable environment where she felt welcomed.
“That’s what libraries really are,” Roberson said. “It’s a place where the community comes together to learn, explore, grow and seek help in a safe space.”
Roberson kind of fell into library work. In 2008, she received her bachelor’s degree in political science from University of California, Riverside. Her goal was to go to law school, but a visit with one of her law professors who told her not to jump into law, and a part-time job at the library, put an end to that.
“It took me about two weeks to decide that this (the library) is where I want to spend the rest of my life,” she said. “That, to me, is the power of libraries. There’s so much good that happens in a library, there’s so much to do, to learn, to share with people that it attracts you. It keeps you here. Because if you genuinely want to change people’s lives, you want to have an impact on people’s lives, this is the space to do it. You’re connecting people and opportunities and information.”
And so, Roberson went to San Jose State University to get her master’s degree in library and information science. During that time, she worked a library job, what she called her “fill-your-bucket job” — the kind of work that just made her feel good — which she did in addition to going to school and working as a cashier at a Stater Bros. market in order to pay her bills and student loans.
One particular experience in those years that further solidified her decision to become a librarian was with Spanish-speaking children who were working on science projects at the library. She locked in on one particular student who she explained was in a make-or-break moment.
“This was my opportunity to help make this project either something that he (the student) dreads or something that he’s really proud of,” she said. “I was translating, and I don’t know how to say ‘hypothesis’ in Spanish, and his mom didn’t really speak any English, and he was trying his best to translate but also learning this really hard concept of science and what his project was supposed to embody. When I was done, I was like, ‘I’m mentally exhausted, and I’ve never felt more fulfilled in my life.’”
In 2011, Roberson finished her master’s degree and got a job as a library assistant at the San Bernardino County Public Library. She also worked as an adult literacy specialist there.
Then, in 2012, Roberson came to Santa Clarita as a reference librarian in the Valencia library. The next year she went full-time as a youth services librarian in Canyon Country.
In 2015, she moved to the Simi Valley Public Library as an adult services librarian, but returned to Santa Clarita that summer, beginning her steady climb toward city librarian for all three Santa Clarita Public Library branches — Valencia, Newhall and Canyon Country — which she’s been doing since April.
According to Debby Verba, current librarian of the Valencia branch, Roberson gives branch librarians the confidence to explore all kinds of ideas and programs, and has never set any limits, nor has she ever come from a place of “no.” Since meeting her in 2013, Verba has seen Roberson as a very positive, can-do person.
“I knew back then that she had everything it takes to become a city librarian,” Verba said. “Gina brings intelligence, experience, passion and most importantly a very strong desire to make a difference in the community and with people.”
Verba shared an instance when Roberson was set on getting a bookmobile so that the library could bring books to those who didn’t have a way of getting to the library.
“This was not an easy task at all,” Verba said. “But she does what she does best — finds ways to solve problems.”
Above all, Roberson said she wants library staff to be passionate about what they’re doing. Because if they’re passionate about the library, the users will be passionate. Roberson added that people fall in love with the library for different reasons, but a big reason is the sense of community that a library offers.
“Our goal in programming,” Roberson said, “really for any age, is that it always has a component of socialization.”
Programs for little ones, for example, fuel those first socializations. And they create community-building opportunities among the parents, who, according to Verba, sometimes even organize playdates afterward. Also essential is the socialization among teens in the library teen programs, and the adult interactions in book clubs or the Sit and Stitch crafters program.
“It really is nice to see when a program becomes successful and has a set group of attendees that build these bonds,” Roberson said. “It becomes kind of an extended community through that experience.”
But over the years, Roberson said she’s seen libraries become quite the valuable resource in other ways, with people using them in ways that are reflective of the current state of the world.
For example, during the recession of the late 2000s when Roberson was an adult literacy specialist at the San Bernardino County Public Library, she and others in the library helped members of the community apply for unemployment insurance. They also assisted those who had lost longtime jobs, who hadn’t applied for work in years, helping them write resumes and fill out work applications.
“We had people coming in in droves to our programs,” Roberson said, “asking us, ‘Please, teach me how to navigate this new world that we’re in.’”
To quote a T-shirt, “Google can find you 100,000 answers. A librarian will find you the right one.” Roberson said that’s exactly what the library does, and it’s ultimately what she strives for in her work: The library should bring people to the information they need, bring them together, and it should build a stronger community.
One of Roberson’s big focuses along those lines is on literacy. She spoke about a Santa Clarita Public Library program called 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten, which encourages families to read 1,000 books with their children before the child goes to elementary school.
“Our goal is to create a better prepared community,” she said. “The better prepared our students are to enter kindergarten, the more successful they can be in school. And so, we’ve been working with the school districts and with school social workers, asking, ‘Where’s our literacy need? What can we do to best support the education system here in the valley?’ It was identified that school preparedness and school readiness is really where we can help.”
According to Kate Peattie, Newhall School District assistant superintendent of instruction, early reading initiatives such as the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program are a key part of enhancing student outcomes.
“The program, which allows families to track their reading through an app linked to the city library system, has been met with enthusiastic support,” Peattie told The Signal in an email. “Although we don’t have direct access to the data collected by the library, the anecdotal feedback from parents has been overwhelmingly positive. Many have expressed how motivating the program has been, not only for their children but for the entire family.”
Then there are those kids currently in school who are struggling with reading and academics. Roberson suggested the tutoring programs in Santa Clarita libraries.
“We have students who kind of suffered and fell behind during COVID who are now trying to catch up,” she said. “We have HelpNow, which is a service we pay for that’s free to you with your library card, and you can access a live tutor for multiple hours a day.”
Help is also available to community members of almost all ages who struggle with technology or who just need a computer to use. Roberson said the libraries offer how-to courses and devices they can check out. Then there’s internet access and printing services, which, she added, many people still rely on heavily today.
“I myself don’t have a printer at home,” she admitted, “because I feel like it never works when I want it to, or I’m always out of ink.”
To this day, Roberson said she enjoys the library as a place of her own. In fact, she has a favorite reading spot, what she called the “storytime tower” at the Old Town Newhall Library. It’s a small room off of the children’s library.
“We’ve really dedicated it to our smallest users,” she said. “We see a lot of parents who are nervous to bring small children to the library because they’re loud or they’re pulling things off the shelves, and so, it really was designed as a space for those smallest visitors to explore what the library has to offer. Something as simple as touching a book, holding a book, turning its pages — those are early literacy skills.”
It’s perhaps the memory of her own early years at the library, when she was learning how the library worked and how it became a space of her own, that she’s made the storytime tower such an important setting to her today. She sees young kids in there discovering what the library has to offer them, making it their own space, and just like when she was eating all those marshmallows and chocolate syrup, she can’t help but smile.
Know any unsung heroes or people in the SCV with an interesting life story to tell? Email [email protected].
