“We’ve always been a library family,” she said. “We went to the library, maybe three or four times a week. One day we were in the car and the kids were talking about what they wanted to be when they grew up. I said from the driver’s seat, ‘Oh, I want to be a librarian when I grow up.’ My daughter said, ‘You’re already old.’ And I said, ‘Alright, when you grow up, I’m going to be a librarian.’ About eight years later she was 16 and I decided I needed to go back to work and started looking for jobs in libraries and finally got one.”

For thirteen years, Tatnall worked at the Lakewood Public Library in Lakewood, Ohio. During that time, one of her sons met a girl while in college and moved to New Ulm after graduation. After visiting several times at her son’s urging, an unexpected opportunity drew her to New Ulm for good.

“I was taking a class and part of the class was to evaluate online job websites,” Tatnall said. I thought, ‘I’ll look in Minnesota for fun.’ I looked and found this position in New Ulm. Because of the time difference, I filled out my application an hour before it closed. I made it here and had the interview and it was charming. New Ulm is a charming place. I loved everyone here at the library. When they called and offered me the job they said think about it and I said ‘But I can tell you now [I accept].'”

Tatnall started her position as Youth Services Librarian on Feb. 2, 2019. She said the transition wasn’t difficult, but there were several differences.

Being a youth librarian is not just reading books and stocking shelves. Here Kathryn Tatnall puts away a bin of legos some kids had been playing with earlier in the day.

“Because of the weather [at the time] people who worked here would come up and say ‘How are you doing? Are you doing okay?’ It is a very different environment coming from a fairly populated city. The city I used to work in was about a six-mile radius and there were 52,000 people in the area. A very suburban area where the library was constantly busy. This library has a lovely slower pace. I can get more done in a day here and people are a little friendlier. They’ll sit down and chat with you because they have a little bit of time.”

Overall, Tatnall said she enjoys the area and the library quite a bit. As for being a youth librarian, working with kids of all ages is her favorite part of the job.

“Every child is a little bit different in terms of their personality and how they deal with someone they don’t know,” Tatnall said. “Some kids you have to be quiet with and wait until they approach you. Some kids will talk to you right away. But forming relationships with the kids so they recognize you when they come upstairs and see you is very rewarding. Storytime is rewarding. Pulling a teenager out of their shells so they’ll chat with you is rewarding.”

Interacting with kids as a librarian also comes with its fair share of humor. Mainly, kids often think Tatnall stays in the library all the time. One of her favorite stories is from when a kid recognized her outside the library.

“I was in the grocery store and a family came around the corner,” she said. “The mom’s like, ‘Hey, how are you?’ And I’m like, ‘How are you?’ And their child [was shocked]. I said ‘It’s okay, I’m just Kathryn.’ As I walked away, she said ‘Miss Katherine never leaves the library.'”

Tatnall believes the youth library excels through customer service, its collection of books, and the programming and technologies available to all ages. She also likes their teen programming, such as the newly opened Anime club for grades 6-12. In the coming years, she hopes to keep fleshing out the youth library so it also appeals to teens.

“We are going to work on space for teens here in the library so their area is better designated and has better furniture for them,” Tatnall said. “[We want to make them] well aware this is an area for them and everyone else as well. It’s not other people couldn’t use it, but we’d like the teens to be able to use it on the weekends, after school, and during summer. I’m also planning a Makerspace for the teens.”

Having been a librarian for over 15 years, Tatnall has learned several valuable lessons and gained insight. Above all, she believes books can take you wherever you want to go.

“One of the things my mother always told me was if you can read you can learn to do anything,” Tatnall said. “I think that’s important. In a lot of ways today, people discount that because things are very easy with the internet. Technology has made it very easy. There are a lot of things you don’t have to read. You can glean knowledge elsewhere in different ways. But I feel [knowing the importance of books is] a huge lesson.”

Tatnall said she has no plans of going anywhere anytime soon. She hopes to continue buying books people want to read and interact with people discovering and enjoying the youth library.

“I’m gonna be here and I’m going to enjoy every minute of it,” Tatnall said.