20 questions with Ann Moffat

Moffat retires from her post at the end of June, and to mark the occasion, the Examiner sat down with her for 20 questions covering her experiences and her thoughts on her beloved Westmount Library.

1. What’s your favourite spot in the Library? “I’m going to miss this office. This is the best office in the city. You have a stupendous view out into the park, so you see people under a tree, you see people walking their dogs — you see exactly who you’re working for.”

2. What’s your favourite book in the Library? “I go back to poetry again and again, but my favourite book I read recently is The Summer Book by Tove Jansson.”

3. What book or author would you like people to know about? “There’s one called The Snoring Bird, by Bernd Heinrich, which I heard one book club really didn’t like. And I’m very curious about why that group didn’t like it, when I found it wonderful.”

4. What part of the Library should get more attention? “The art collection. A lot of people don’t turn left when they go into the library.”

5. Libraries are supposed to be quiet, but is there a sound you associate with the Library? “People walking around. Everything comes in here — strollers, rollerblades, scooters, canes, walkers ...”

6. What’s most important at the Library? “The atmosphere; the welcoming atmosphere. That people feel comfortable; it’s their place!”

7. What’s your best story about the Library? “A girl came in and she had the hiccups. One of our staff said, ‘You should get somebody to frighten you with something,’ and she agreed. So when she took a book out, we told her she had a fine — and she stopped hiccupping!”

8. What was the best thing about your job? “Watching people. Watching people look for something that they want to take home.”

9. What one thing will you not miss? “The regularity of having to come in every day.”

10. What did you not expect about the job? “I really didn’t know what this job was going to be at all, really. The thing about library work is that it changes all the time, and it’s never static.”

11. What did the job teach you? “To be more understanding of a lot of different views.”

12. What book surprised you with its popularity? “A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, by Marina Lewycka. Who would have thought that would be so popular?”

13. What request for a book really surprised you? “I always expect anything! In fact, that really intrigues me, when somebody has a book that we’ve never heard of.”

14. Who was your favourite author that you met while director? “Without a doubt, Michael Kusugak. He’s an Inuit author for children and young adults. The humour he had in storytelling ... he just had the kids enthralled.”

15. What was your proudest moment as library director? “There are lots of them, but a component of the proudest moment is when I see lots of people with their own specialty working together to pull something off for the community.”

16. What was your most stressful moment as director? “Lots of things are a challenge, but it’s all part of library services. With over 1,000 people passing through the Library each day, the chance of something challenging happening is high!”

17. What are you happy to have added to the Library? “Getting the blinds up in the Westmount Room, because that allowed us to do more activities without putting foam-core up in the windows.”

18. What was your favourite event at the Library? “A thank-you event in the Storytelling Garden to all the people who’d been involved in making the Garden.”

19. How has the Library changed during your time as director? “Technology has added to the Library a lot. We have our web page now; there’s a lot more computer use in the Library, and wireless access. We have to keep on top of it.”

20. Complete this sentence: A 21st-century library should ... :“... respond to its users!”