Meet the Staff: Miriam Stone

Title: Learning Resource and Access Specialist

Years here/years in same position elsewhere: Approximately 26 years here. I’ve worked in libraries, both public and academic, on and off since I was 17 years old.

Brief description of your responsibilities: I’m the last resort person. If you want a specific item, print or media, and it isn’t available in Berks County, I can literally search the world to find it and have it sent here for you. I also provide back-up for different departments when we are short-staffed. I’m not the only one who does that though. Wearing many hats is something we have all learned to do over the years.

Name one or two things that you love about working in The Yocum Library.
I love the atmosphere of this and every library. This is the one place you can go and we will give you something completely free of charge and with no strings attached - knowledge

Favorite movie? Or last movie seen?
My favorite movie is Terminator 2. The last movie I saw was the new Terminator. They should have stopped at Terminator 2. (That’s only an opinion, not a fact.)


Favorite book? Or last book read or book reading now?
My favorite all time book – To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It tells us all that we’ll ever need to know.

Who inspires you? I’m inspired by people who struggle through the darkness in search of the light – like Samuel Johnson’s quote “the triumph of hope over experience.”

What’s the coolest thing you’re working on right now (work, school, personal)? I’m drawing a series of charcoal sketches to give to my children.

What’s your secret talent that no one knows about? I restore and finish furniture.

If you had a year off with pay, what would you do? I’d toss my cell phone, throw out my alarm clock and start livin’ my life.

Community/volunteer activities: I’ll be volunteering for the Wyomissing Public Library in the spring.

Anything else you wish to add? A place can become magical if the people in it know the secret of magic. All the people who work in the Yocum Library, beginning with Mary Ellen and the full-time staff, the part-time staff, the work study students, the security guards and the volunteers are able to turn learning into magic for everyone who walks through our doors. Come and visit. You won’t want to miss this.