Greenburgh Public Library Blog

New Faces at The Greenburgh Library: Nicole Guenkel

Nicole Guenkel is the next staff member to be highlighted in the "New Faces" series. She has been at Greenburgh Public Library for almost two years but was recently promoted to Co-Head of Youth Services.

Nicole began as a librarian at the Queens Public Library, where she worked for several years before moving upstate. After relocating she took a position with Poughkeepsie Public Library District, where she eventually became Head of Children’s Services.

Nicole was not always a librarian. She started her career in Finance and worked for a finance agency for five years. She liked it very much but realized her calling was in public service. Nicole wanted to empower people and thought that this was best done working with the public, starting with young children. She continued to work in finance until she received her degree in Library Science. “Here in the library, every day is unique. You are encountering different people and are able to take the work in whatever direction you want to go. There are pros and cons working in both types of atmospheres, (the private and the public sector) but the library is much more diverse.”

While working for the Poughkeepsie Public Library District Nicole initiated many programs and outreach with community agencies.  When an opportunity opened in Greenburgh it was a chance to work with different people and a new community. She was also able to bring all of her creative ideas from Poughkeepsie and share them with the people here. Nicole has helped to transform the Children’s and Teen Departments into the Youth Services Department and now co-heads this new section with Teen Librarian Liz Anastasi, to provide a seamless transition for young children to grow with our programs. “I am now more heavily involved in programming which is a lot of fun. I work with people of high integrity and with a lovely community that really cares about this library and are very thankful for the services we offer. You really don’t know that will happen until you start working with a particular community so it has been a really positive experience.”

Nicole is highly involved in the national librarian community. She has been a judge for the Audie Awards, (the Audiobook Publishers Award) overseen by the Audio Publishers Association, for several years. She is very involved with the Public Library Association and has served on the Continuing Education Advisory Group, providing free online learning opportunities for library professionals. She was also just appointed to the Gordon M. Conable Award jury. This award is given to an individual that has demonstrated a profound commitment to Intellectual Freedom and the Library Bill of Rights. “One day I hope to be involved with the Public Library Association in more ways than what I am doing right now. I am really excited about what is going on in public libraries and how everything affects children and families. The more we help and create on a national level the better for our local communities.”

After all of that, Nicole still has time to read. Because of her Audie Award duties and her long commute she listens to a lot of audiobooks. She recommends The Lies of Locke Lamora, The Gentleman Bastard series by Scott Lynch, Tana French novels and Circe by Madeline Miller.  “Right now I am reading and writing questions for the Battle of the Books.  I wish I could spend more time on middle grade novels (I haven’t yet read Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes and know I want to get to that one) but I do keep up with the picture books as best I can. I also really like mysteries such as Robert Galbraith’s (A.K.A. J.K. Rowling) Cormoran Strike series.”

Nicole also recommends downloading and listening to podcasts. “When I am not reading, I listen to a lot of true crime podcasts. I just finished “The Man in the Window” about the Golden State Killer and “White Lies” which is about a white pastor that was killed during the Selma Riots in 1965.”