By Melissa Wagoner
Once she set her sights on moving to Silverton everything just fell into place for Christy Davis, the new Silver Falls Library Director.
“I hesitate to use the word magical – but it was pretty great,” she said.
Davis, who has nurtured a love for libraries since her childhood days in Bloomington, Indiana., had been working for the Klamath County Library for 22 years.
“After one and a half years of the Story Van Project, as it was called, I was hired full time as a Branch Services Assistant and then held four additional, progressively responsible positions at the library – including reference services, circulation, outreach services and administrative/supervisory work – until becoming director in October
of 2013.”
Davis’ affection for the library, where she enjoys organizing adult service programs and education, pales only in comparison to her fondness for her adopted state of Oregon.
“I think it’s the most beautiful state,” she enthused.
Two of Davis’ sisters, who are Pacific Northwesterners, were influential in her decision to make this her home.
“I knew when I was seven years old I needed to move to Oregon too,” she laughed.
It was Davis’ oldest sister who clued her in about the special town of Silverton.
“I drove through and, like many people, fell in love
with it,” she remembered.
Although Silverton looked to Davis like the perfect place for her and her husband, Kevin O’Neil, to settle down and enjoy their hobbies of listening to music, watching films and playing games with friends, she wasn’t sure if she could find a job. Amazingly, she came upon the opening at Silver Falls Library for a new director.
“I didn’t even really think I had a chance,” she laughed.
Now Davis is looking forward to getting to know the staff and patrons at her new library as well as the citizens in the town at large.
“I am really, really excited to be in Silverton because it feels like a tightly-knit and caring community,” she said. “I look forward to learning more about the community’s needs and how the library can help various groups and individuals achieve their goals for information, education, and library-based recreation. I am excited about the small and dedicated staff and look forward to working with them and learning from them.”
Davis is also thrilled to work with Silver Falls Library’s special district library board, which is different from that of Klamath County.
“These are people that very consciously ran to serve on the library board,” she said.
Although Davis doesn’t have any plans to make changes in the way the library is run at this time, she will be keeping an open mind.
“I have a lot of things to observe and listen to,” she said. “I want to find out what more we can do. I think that you always are looking for ways to enhance what
you offer.”
Community members interested in finding out more about Davis and her plans for the library are welcome to a meet- and-greet Feb. 25, 1 – 3 p.m. In the meantime Davis said she is enjoying getting to know her new home.
“I want to build on a good thing and make the library even more relevant and valued by the community,” she said. “I am incredibly excited and I feel so lucky to have this opportunity at Silver Falls Library District.
I believe the staff and I are going to work well and joyfully together while we continue the tradition of meeting the needs of our taxpaying public with excellent library services.”
