Emma Goddard reported this story on assignment from the Vermont Community Newspaper Group. The Community News Service is a program in which University of Vermont students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost.
In late February, visitors to the Carpenter-Carse Library in Hinesburg showed up not just for the books but for a chance to score a hole in one.
The library hosted a miniature golf special event as the kind of “fun, outside-the-box” program that its new director, Rob Broder, said he wants to incorporate more at the 77-year-old Carpenter-Carse.
“My goal would be to make this a very vibrant, welcoming place,” Broder said in a recent interview. “It already is.”
The former programming director at the Pierson Library in Shelburne, Broder took the Carpenter-Carse director position in October and said he tries to be funny and silly in an otherwise serious job. His approach is aided by his background as a children’s picture-book author and publisher. On the release day for his most recent book, “Reading Together,” he narrated it for children’s story time at Carpenter-Carse, said Katherine Kjelleren, a third grade teacher at Hinesburg Community School who sits on the library’s board of trustees.
“Something that sets Rob apart from other library directors in the area might be his writing and publishing skills,” Kjelleren wrote in an emailed response to questions about the board’s hiring of Broder. “Rob is well-liked and comes with library experience and great and sometimes playful, fun ideas, such as the library becoming a golf course over school vacation.”
Besides creating his own children’s picture books — seven so far — Broder started his own publishing company, Ripple Grove Press, to produce them. He also works as a consultant with other writers and publishers.
“I’ve always been drawn to books,” Broder said.
Broder grew up in New Jersey and visited Vermont on family ski trips. After graduating from Monmouth University, he moved to Vermont, later left the state and returned. Working as a salesman for Lake Champlain Chocolates, he met his future wife, and together they launched Ripple Grove in 2013 from their home in Shelburne.
That has given him experience with the products that go into the library stacks. At the Pierson Library, he saw the inner workings behind those stacks. He spent four years there, wearing many book-related hats.
“I started cataloging books,” Broder said. “I started working the circulation desk.”
He also handled interlibrary loans, shelved books and ordered book kits for the library. As the Covid-19 pandemic began to subside and readers began to return to in-person activities, he stepped into the role of program coordinator.
Broder developed and hosted library events, such as story times, movie showings, and guest lecturer and author visits. Kate Bosley, current youth services librarian at Pierson, described him as “an innovator, and perhaps, the most organized person I know.”
Broder left his mark on Pierson, Bosley added. “His legacy continues here in Shelburne as we carry on programs he introduced, as our young readers check out his books, and as we sort through the closet of meticulously labeled tech supplies.”
Broder carried his background into the director role at Carpenter-Carse. Since his start there, he said he has focused on the needs of the Hinesburg community and the maintenance of what he called “a very vibrant, impressive collection.”
Broder said he would like to bolster the library’s general programming and events. He’d bring in more speakers and amp up the family-oriented activities. One of his current projects is this year’s summer reading program, which he and Carpenter-Carse staff began planning in February. Discussions about fall programming take place in May and June.
“Come the summer,” Broder said, “I’ll be thinking about the very busy Thanksgiving-Christmas time.”
Broder said he tries to incorporate the same lightheartedness with library employees and supporters as he does with visitors.
“I hope it comes across when I have staff meetings and when I interact with patrons and the community,” he said. He stressed the importance of communicating and working as a team to accomplish library goals. Crucial to success, he said, is “listening to them, listening to my staff, and hearing what they have to say and what they want” and then putting their feedback into practice.
The board is pleased with Broder’s performance, Kjelleren said. “I think the thing that stands out most of all about Rob is his ability to listen to everyone and then, with others, take action.”
And he keeps an open mind, Broder said: “Each day I learn something new about the community and the job.”