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

Monday, June 15, 2009

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.

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