Welcome to the magical, book-filled world of our Youth Services team! Whether you’re looking for the perfect bedtime story, a wild and wacky craft, or a place to unleash your inner scientist, Azra, Courtney, and Joan have you covered.
✨ Azra, Head of Youth Services – Keeper of endless book recommendations and master of non-fiction book finding. If there's a way to make reading fun for even the most stubborn of kids, Azra has already thought of it!
🎨 Courtney, Youth Services Librarian – Part artist, part storytime genius, all librarian! Whether she's crafting, coming up with new ways to make storytime an adventure, or leading a play (okay, maybe just a shadow puppet show), Courtney brings the fun.
📚 Joan, Youth Services Librarian – A reading wizard with a talent for turning books into adventures. If you can't believe how inventive the crafts are, there's a good chance Joan is behind it!
Stop by and say hello—they love helping young readers (and their grown-ups) discover new stories, explore creativity, and have a blast at the library!
In 2024, our Nesmith News included profiles of the different librarians. Keep reading to find out more about our Youth Services team!
Azra Palo, Head of Youth Services
The person we’re highlighting this week wears many hats, and crowns, and occasionally a unicorn costume – it’s our Head of Youth Services, Azra!
Azra has been Nesmith’s Head of Youth Services since 2019! Since coming to Nesmith, Azra has done many things she’s proud of, like developing the new-to-Nesmith early reader non-fiction collection! We can’t keep those “animals in my backyard” books on the shelf! She also really loved getting to try out new programs, like our always popular, and always fun Stuffie Sleepover.
Azra doesn’t only make an impact here in the Children’s Room – she also loves doing outreach in the community! She loves working with outside organizations and running special storytimes (which reminds me – keep an eye on our calendar for upcoming storytimes with the conservation commission!). She also really loves that she gets to watch the families and kids grow over the years, seeing how their interests and hobbies change.
Azra is a librarian through and through! She worked briefly at Lowes before getting her first professional library job. While she crushed it at selling warranties, she knew she was destined for working in libraries.
Some fascinating facts about Azra:
- She moved to NH as a refugee from Bosnia (former Yugoslavia) in 1996.
- An avid Hiker and Kayaker, Azra hiked the NH 48 4,000 footers in one year (2019). She’s also completed the 52 with a view, Belknaps 12, and the Monadnock Sunapee Greenway. Her future goal is to do a Presidential Traverse in a day.
- She currently has 2 cats, rabbits, many chickens, and one adorable human child (Eliza), and they’re hoping to add a dog to the menagerie at some point!
Courtney Wason, Children's Library Assistant
Say hello to our Kid's Comic Club Captain – Courtney Wason!
Courtney is one of our newer staff members – she's been at Nesmith Library as a Children's Library Assistant's for just over a year! Courtney does so much here – leading our baby and pre-school storytimes, book displays, running our kid's comic clubs, drawing Pokémon on the cabinets, and planning a baby prom or two. She's a multi-talented treasure!
Courtney has been a librarian for about 12 years, but had a LOT of different jobs before that! She promises they were ALL interesting in some way. For example, she learned a lot about flowers and running a small business when she worked at a florist; got a great farmer tan when she operated rides at Canobie Lake Park; got to see students reach their goals when she taught classes at Nashua Community College; and got to pretend she was on Say Yes to the Dress when she worked at David's Bridal selling wedding dresses (and those are only some of the jobs).
But of course, the best by FAR was getting her first job at a library—once she started working at libraries, she never left, and has been librarian-ing in different departments and capacities ever since!
Courtney has no shortage of fun facts, but here's just a few:
- She gets excited when a new bird species comes to her bird feeder (and thanks to her super cool Bird Buddy, she gets updates when they arrive!).
- Courtney has one of the best laughs in the library! She says her children find it equal parts irritating AND useful—"they can always find me in a crowded room!" She comes by it naturally – her dad's side of the family all have big laughs.
- Despite not always enjoying side-scrolling games, in 2003 she ALMOST beat Donkey Kong Country on the Sega Genesis she brought with her to college, and that's a standout moment from college, for sure.
- Courtney has two kids that make her very happy, a wonderful husband named Pete, and a cat named Peanut (who really is the queen of the house).
Joan Carbone, Children's Library Assistant
Joan, Nesmith Library's new Children's Library Assistant, starting in May 2024, making her our most recent addition to the Youth Services staff!
With past jobs working in balloon delivery, working for an airline catering company, a career as a financial systems analyst, and 13 years teaching pre-school, she brings a wealth of skills to Nesmith!
We welcome Joan after she has been working as a children's librarian for about 7 years. She loves everything about helping small humans learn to love books!
We can't wait for everyone to get to know Joan more over the coming months, but for now we can pass along some super fun facts:
- She was born in California, in the heart of the silicon valley. How did she end up on the East Coast? She came here for college, met her husband, and never looked back!
- She has three grown children, a grand-puppy named Mack, and will be having her first grandchild at the end of the summer. Congratulations to Joan & her family!
- She loves reading, all types of crafts, and traveling. Her favorite trip of all time was to London.
- Join us in welcoming Joan to the library!
