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• One-on-one with Barb Lintner, Retiring Director of Children’s Services at the Urbana Free Library

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Barb Lintner

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Address: 210 W. Green St. Urbana, IL 61801
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As the latest gadgets continue to make their way onto wish lists, it can be hard to get children to pick up a book instead of a controller. However, Barb Lintner has managed to do just that as the Director of Children’s Services at the Urbana Free Library. A past recipient of the Davis Cup Award for outstanding children’s librarian in the state of Illinois, Lintner is retiring after 22 years and countless programs that have helped children learn to love reading. buzz sat down with Barb Lintner to talk about her years at the Urbana Free Library and why reading is so important for children.

buzz: So after 22 years, what made you want to retire?

Barb Lintner: Well, I’m getting older. I think that’s probably a number one [reason]. And I have grandchildren of my own I’d like to spend some time with. I do love what I do though. It’s a little bit hard. It’s bittersweet.

buzz: What’s something that you are really going to miss?

BL: Oh, I’ll miss the children. I love to do programming, and I love to tell stories. I plan on doing some of that somewhere else, too, but I will miss the kids very much.

buzz: I understand you received the Davis Cup Award for outstanding children’s librarian. What did that mean to you?

BL: It meant a lot to me, because I was fairly young at the time. I had worked in the state of Illinois in Children’s Services, but most of it was in the community that I was in then. I worked a little bit on the iREAD Commititee, which is an Illinois Library Association Committee. It was really nice. We did a festival of the young child, and it was a whole week of the event. We coordinated it with the whole community. I think that was one of the things they cited.

buzz: Can you tell me more about the iREAD Committee?

BL: iREAD [Illinois Reading Enrichment and Development] plans the summer reading program for the state of Illinois, so a lot of the graphics and things that you see here are things that are produced in a big mass so that the prices are very economical for the different libraries to use. It’s all grassroots. Every year, they ask for ideas, we send in ideas, and they put it all together. They have real librarians from different libraries that work on the statewide committee. It is really an exciting thing to be part of. When you get all done, you feel like you’ve touched the lives of thousands of children in the state of Illinois. It’s really pretty special. I did that for many years, either as a consultant or as part of the committee.

buzz: So what’s something in the last 22 years that you are particularly proud of?

BL: The iREAD Committee would be one of those things because of the opportunity to touch so many different kids, to have really good programming for librarians all over the state, too. I come from a smaller library, and it’s really hard to manage all of the things that you have to do to attract kids to the library and keep them reading. I felt like offering them a really quality program made a big difference. I’m very into services for very young children, so we’ve done several cooperative things. The Kindergarten Calendar that I’ve worked on with United Way is a great thing for the community I think. I’ve also had a chance to serve on the Caldecott Committee. I’m pretty excited about that. At the time I thought, oh well, I won’t do this, but I knew someone who was in the American Library Association’s Library Services for Children. It was only because I knew her that I was appointed to the committee. But it was a great experience, and I really did enjoy it.

buzz: Why do you think it’s really important to get kids reading at a young age?

BL: As young as possible, I think, you need to get them to enjoy reading. It shouldn’t be a pressure situation. The public libraries give a great way to introduce them to reading. In all our programs, we do a lot of pre-school concepts pointing towards reading with a parent, trying to encourage them to read with their kids. We also try to present different things that actually should be the precursors to reading in the programming.

buzz: What would you recommend to parents whose kids just don’t seem to enjoy reading?

BL: I would certainly look for subjects and topics they are interested in. A lot of kids, who aren’t natural readers, just haven’t stumbled on the right books really. I think a lot of kids like non-fiction, and we’re always pushing them towards stories. So that’s one area we try to look at when a parent comes to me and says I have a problem. Then there are a lot of learning disabilities that kids have, and I think we’re beginning to appreciate that a little more, too. We’ve got a great collection of leveled readers here with the very beginning readers. I have a grandson with a reading problem, and it’s just amazing what the different possibilities are now. Schools are recognizing it, and places like the reading group here in Champaign are really doing a good job with that, too. So it isn’t always just turning them on, sometimes it’s helping them learn to focus.

buzz: If you had to pick a favorite children’s book, what would it be?

BL: That’s pretty much impossible. Well, I was going to say, one of my favorite books for older kids is called "Ender’s Game". It’s science fiction and probably one of my favorite books, because it’s about kids. I really like young adult or tween fiction that is about kids. That’s probably my favorite book. [It’s by] Orson Scott Card.

buzz: So what do you think about the latest book phenomena like Harry Potter and Twilight?

BL: Oh, I like Harry Potter. I consider that really, because it’s such a great saga and story all the way through. Twilight, I’m not so excited about. It just doesn’t appeal to me. To each his own. I’m very much science fiction/fantasy. Those are the things I like. I also like a good modern novel as well.

buzz: Anything you are reading now?

BL: Well I’m listening to books, because I commute. I listen to a whole lot of books. I actually just read "Going Bovine" by Libba Bray, which is really an interesting book. Not at all in the children’s field, but an interesting book. What am I listening to right now? "Nation" by Terry Pratchett, which is more YA [young adult]. Because you can consume these really quick. [Points to nearby children’s shelf.] I probably read two or three of these picture books everyday. As a matter of fact, I was back in the office, eating my lunch and reading through "What Just Came In".