New RCPL Director is One of Our Own

by Charlotte Bishop

An alumna of the School of Library and Information Science would like the library to be the first place people go when they have a spare hour. Melanie Huggins, who began her career at Richland County Public Library, has returned 15 years later as its executive director.

The West Columbia native entered the Master of Library Science program at USC in 1995. She specialized in youth services and graduated in 1995.

Huggins said being a children’s librarian is the best training for being a library director. She said librarians who serve youth have a philosophy of respecting children, talking directly to them and helping each child find the right book. She believes that same philosophy should be applied to adults.

“I want every person who walks in to any of our libraries to have the best customer service,” Huggins said.

After graduating from USC, she moved to Charlotte with her husband, J.C., who earned his Master of Mass Communication from USC in 1993. She worked as a children’s librarian for four years at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County before becoming its Youth and Outreach Services director. Huggins led the creation of ImaginOn, a combined children’s library and theater, which opened in 2005. “I would love to do something like that here,” she noted.

She said one idea would be for the library to team with Richland County Recreation Commission so that children can do more physical things to learn how to read. “I think libraries are better served, and people are better served, when they’re in joint-use facilities,” Huggins said.

Huggins is happy to be back in Columbia, close to her parents while raising her children. She, her husband and three children moved back to Columbia from St. Paul, Minn., where Huggins was the library director for three years. Her husband currently telecommutes, traveling to Minnesota for about a week out of every month, for his job as Web engagement manager for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. He is responsible for user experience and interactive marketing on all of the company’s online communications.

Huggins said her children, Adeline, Lila and Shepard, love going to the library. Shepard has a “huge vocabulary for a 2-year-old,” which she attributes to his two talkative older sisters and his love of books. Lila loves to be read to, and Adeline is a “rabid reader” whose books are always overdue.

SLIS is also happy to have her back in Columbia. About two dozen people, including professors, administrators, and current and former students, attended a tea the School held in Huggins’ honor on Sept. 25.

Dr. Pat Feehan, SLIS associate professor, called Huggins a “superstar in the field.” Huggins “has done a lot and contributed a lot to the profession,” Dr. Feehan said. “And now, we’re looking forward to what she’s going to do in Richland County.”

“We are absolutely delighted to have one of our alums as director of the best public library system in the state,” Dr. Sam Hastings, SLIS director, said. “We look forward to many collaborations and great projects together.”