Talking Shop with Betty Martin, director of the Cape Girardeau Public Library, 711 N. Clark Ave.

Nearly a month has passed since the new Cape Girardeau Public Library opened at 711 N. Clark Ave. Dedicated on May 16, the $9 million, 39,000-square-foot library includes a genealogy room, computer lab, two study rooms, areas for teenagers and children and two community rooms. Business reporter Brian Blackwell sat down with library director Betty Martin to talk about the library, changes in the industry and what led her to serve in her current role. A native of Boston, Martin earned a master's degree in library science at Southern Connecticut State University near New Haven, Conn., and worked for 15 years at the Wallingford (Conn.) Public Library as director of youth services. She moved to St. Louis in 1992, where she supervised youth services for four branches of the St. Louis Public Library. Martin met her husband, Mark, while living in St. Louis and moved with him to Cape Girardeau in 1994 when he began serving at a church in the area. Three years later Martin -- who was then an adult services coordinator at the library -- became its director. Martin has a daughter, Rachel, from a previous marriage and a stepdaughter, Leah. When she's not at the library Martin enjoys reading, singing in the choir at St. Andrew Lutheran Church where her husband is a minister, visiting her daughter in Springfield, Mo., and watching episodes of the television show the West Wing.

Q: Tell me about what life was like in New England.

A: My dad, Richard, was a Lutheran minister and we lived in a big parsonage in the Boston area. One of the biggest differences between New England and here was the humidity in this area. The cool thing about where I lived was I was two houses down from a library. I thought I was lucky to live that close to a library. But at that time I never thought I'd become a library director. I volunteered in my high school library and used to play library as a kid. My younger brother and I would play library, where we'd check out books to each other.

Q: What led you to move to St. Louis?

A: It was a set of circumstances. My marriage was breaking up and my husband was planning to move to Chicago. I was looking at the different possibilities in the Midwest and saw a great opening in St. Louis. While living in St. Louis is where I met my husband, Mark. His first assignment was in Cape Girardeau. He asked me to marry him and when we were considering the move I asked him, where is Cape Girardeau, and does it have a library?

Q: It's obvious your family is important to you. Who has influenced you through the years?

A: My father, Richard. He was a very humble man. He would read to us as kids and served on two library boards. He understood the importance of books. My older brother, Timothy, is a retired National Park Ranger. He taught me the importance of conserving the environment. My older brother, Andrew, is well-read and very intelligent. My mother, Ethel, died while I was a senior in college. I graduated with a history degree and she suggested I look into library services. I talked to others doing the same thing and found that this was something for me.

Q: What have been some of the most significant changes in libraries?

A: When I was living in Massachusetts as a kid the library had only two rooms and kids weren't allowed to go into the adult section. Now children can go just about anywhere. I also remember when videos were really big. Now we've moved to different kinds of media. Books on CD are probably the most popular. And the advent of online catalogs has changed from the days of when we had the paper card catalogs. Another change has been the ID tags. These involve placing radio frequency tags in the library's collection of more than 100,000 items. Each book, CD or DVD has a radio-frequency identification chip that, when placed in a return bin, automatically is updated in our system. Our conveyer belt transports and sorts some of the materials and places them in a bin for easier re-shelving. It makes the entire process really easy.

Q: I think most people would say the technology is impressive. But can we go too far with technological changes?

A: I think different generations have different expectations and we've tried to address those with this new library. The older generation likes that face-to-face contact, so we've included areas where they can check out books from someone. The younger generation doesn't care as much about dealing with a person, so we've instituted the self check-out. I think we could go too far if we changed to all self check-out. But I don't see that ever happening here.

Q: What was it like to finally see the library re-open after years of planning and dreaming?

A: It was a wonderful day. This is such an asset to this community. There are days when we have a constant stream of people coming in and that's great. They're finding what they need whether it's a quiet space, WiFi, computer labs or the children's area. It's a beautiful building that we are fortunate to have. But we still have a little bit of work to go. Not all of the signs for shelving are up yet and we have a few pieces of furniture to move in. But most of the work is done. I don't see us having [another] expansion in my lifetime. When planning for this library, we planned for the future. Our architects said that if we ever expanded we'd have to build up.

Q: A June 2 Speak Out article recounted a resident who visited the library and, when she provided her updated address, was told she was out of the free service area. Please explain why she had to pay for a card.

A: The library is within city boundaries. The person probably lives in county boundaries. The library is supported by those living in the city boundaries through a property tax that voters approved. And money generated from that tax pays for the library. A common misconception is that only those who have a library card may come here. Anyone can use this building and what we have here. The only thing that people who don't have cards can't do is check out books for free. Even then they can pay $60 a year for a card or $15 for three months and they'll have the same privileges as a city taxpayer. People get upset because of the cost but it's never been free. We have to operate off funding to provide for the services.