New director at Weyauwega library
By Angie Landsverk
Kelly Kneisler is beginning the new year with a new job title.
She is now the director of the Weyauwega Public Library.
“The contract was signed at the last board meeting,” she said.
It was official Jan. 1.
“The library staff, city employees and community have helped make my transition into this new position go very smoothly,” Kneisler said. “The staff, library board of trustees and OWLS staff could not have been more supportive of me this year.”
She was the children’s librarian for 10 years before being named the library’s interim director last May.
That followed Kristi Pennebecker’s retirement from the position.
When Pennebecker told the staff she was thinking about retiring in the spring, Kneisler was initially not interested in being considered for the position.
Kneisler loved being the children’s librarian.
She also did not have enough credits to be the director.
“I needed a certain number of credits to be Grade III state certified through DPI (Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction),” Kneisler said. “I had 31. I needed 23 more.”
A Grade III Certification is required to be director of a municipal library in a community with a population under 3,000.
Half of the 54 semester credits must be in liberal arts or sciences.
Kneisler had a conversation with her older sister about Pennebecker’s plan to retire.
“My sister said to go for it,” she said.
When Kneisler told her she did not have enough credits, her sister said she could go back to school.
“It was like a switch in my head,” Kneisler said.
However, she wondered how she would go to school while also working.
Kneisler took the classes online through Chippewa Valley Technical College.
She completed all 23 of the remaining credits she needed by the end of 2018.
“I was also working, but everything related to what I was doing, or had knowledge about. It was all things that were pertinent,” she said. “It coincided with what I was doing at work. I honestly enjoyed it.”
While they were online courses, there were some group projects and always some type of discussion, she said.
“One of the favorite classes I took was a children’s literature class,” she said. “I can’t say enough about those classes and what I learned.”
Prior to being the children’s librarian, Kneisler was a stay-at-home mother.
She and her husband Michael have two grown children.
Kneisler grew up in the West Bloomfield area and is a graduate of Weyauwega-Fremont High School.
After high school, she completed a one-year, account/clerk certificate program at Fox Valley Technical College.
For nine years, she worked at the former Valley Bank, in Weyauwega.
“When I had children, I stayed home,” Kneisler said. “I hadn’t worked out of the house for a long time.”
It was Kneisler’s husband who saw the ad in the former Weyauwega Chronicle when the children’s librarian position became available.
He circled it and told her, “You’d be good at that,” she recalled.
Kneisler did not think she had a shot at the job.
A day after interviewing for the position, she received the call that she got it.
“I love waiting on people, first of all. At the bank, too, that was my thing,” Kneisler said. “I also liked the creative part of it – Story Time.”
The position grew from there.
Kneisler began taking photographs, shooting videos and posting items on the library’s website and Facebook page.
She thought she would miss much of the work.
“But honestly, I enjoy what I’m doing now,” she said. “I enjoy ordering and reading books, handling shipments, working on spreadsheets and the budget, all the tasks.”
She still works with the public, and said Pennebecker made the job look easy, giving her confidence to do it.
As the new director, Kneisler has a number of goals.
“I would like to see more seating in this library – space for people to sit around and read,” she said.
Expanding the library has been an ongoing topic for the library board.
If space was added, it would be from where the newspapers are – toward the street, she said.
“If we did expand, the building would be in the shape of ‘U.’ The new space would be more of a quiet area,” Kneisler said.
In the past months, some tables and chairs were moved.
“We’re trying to be efficient with the space we’ve got,” she said.
Kneisler also wants to create dividers between the public computers.
Another one of her goals is reaching those not currently using the library, getting the word out about all the services the library offers.
She said the library’s staff is committed to making the library great.
“I couldn’t have done what I did this year without the support of the board, especially,” she said. “They put their faith in me very early in this process.”
Outside of work, Kneisler enjoys spending time with her husband, children and their dog.
She reads a lot of mysteries and young adult fantasies, and also crochets.
Kneisler and her sister make scarves and place them in a box near the library’s front door.
“People can take one if they need one. I’ve been doing this about five years,” she said. “I make probably 40 to 50 scarves for each winter season and my sister does, too.”
She looks forward to the challenge of being the library’s new director.