Meet Fayette County Public Library’s new director, Betsy Slavens

Recently, Southeast Regional Coordinator Courtney Allison visited the Fayette County Public Library to chat with new director, Betsy Slavens. Betsy was the director at the Benton County Public Library before heading to Fayette County.

Are you from the area? If not, where are you from originally?
No. I am originally from Greenwood, Ind.

What inspired you to work in libraries?
I have always been a reader. When I was a child, my mom and dad would take me to two different library systems on alternating days because I could never get enough books. Even now, I always carry at least one book with me because I never know when I might get a spare minute. Working in a library seemed like a solid life choice.

What is your favorite thing about working for your library?
I love being the boss! No really. I really enjoy helping the staff meet their potential, advocating for the library in the community and helping library users discover something new and wonderful within our walls. I guess that’s actually three favorite things.

What is your favorite book?
That’s a hard question. So, I’m going to go with my top five desert island picks. I’d say, “Anne of Green Gables,” “A Wrinkle in Time,” “Special Topics in Calamity Physics” by Marisha Pessl, “A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole and “Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932” by Francine Prose.

If you could have dinner with any three famous people in recorded history, who would they be and why?
Mr. Rogers because he was gentle, kind and thoughtful. I’m not sure what kind of dinner we’d have, but he was a vegetarian and I would like to respect that. I’d like to dish with Ernest Hemingway about cats over a couple of cocktails. Isn’t it fun to think of Ernest Hemingway going gaga over kitties? Jane Austen would be a hoot, too. We could go to the mall food court and people watch; it’d be a blast. I hope these are all individual dinner dates and not one big party.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not at work?
Besides reading, I enjoy going to food and beer festivals and taking road trips with my friends, travelling throughout Europe with my husband, watching British TV shows with my old man cat sitting on my lap, sewing, knitting, daydreaming and napping.

Welcome, Betsy!

This blog post was written by Courtney Allison, southeast regional coordinator, Indiana State Library. For more information, email Courtney at callison@library.in.gov.