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Economic Vitality Unplugged takes a deep dive into people, policies, and projects, shaping Tallahassee-Leon County’s economy.
[Inspirational music]
[Keith] Welcome to Economic
Vitality Unplugged,
where we take a closer look at the people, programs, and partnerships
shaping our community here
in Tallahassee-Leon County.
Today's conversation
might surprise some folks
because we're talking
about libraries of all things,
not just the place that you go
to borrow books, but as a place
where careers get started,
businesses take shape,
and people gain real
job-ready skills.
I’m fortunate to have with me
today, our guest, Pamela Monroe.
She's the Director of Library Services
for Leon County.
Pamela, thanks for being here!
[Pamela] Thank you so much, Keith, for having me!
I'm really excited about being able to talk to you today.
[Keith] Yeah, we've got a lot
of stuff to unpack.
So, and again, I think our guests will be
pleasantly surprised at all
the wonderful things
that you and your team are doing.
So, Pamela, let's just
jump right into it.
Let's start at a high level
for someone who hasn't
been to the Leon County
Library recently. Give us a snapshot
of what library services look like today
and what you're focused on as a system.
[Pamela] All right. Great. Yes.
When people think of libraries,
most of the time
they think of this antiquated place
with all of the books.
And that's where we house the books.
Affectionately known as a book warehouse.
But that is not necessarily the case
for the Leon County Public Library.
So in 2019, the library services
and resources were reimagined, right?
The idea was to create a space
that is more community-focused
and community-led.
So what county did was
they had staff get together
and they conducted these
community meetings
and surveys to kind of
help craft this idea,
to transform our library system,
to meet the changing needs
of our residents.
The Essential Libraries
Initiative was born, a strategic plan
that was adopted in 2021.
To this day, we create an annual plan
that is based on four focus areas:
(1) Literacy and Lifelong Learning,
(2) Arts and Humanities, (3) Civic
and Community Engagement,
and what we're going to talk a little bit
more about today is our (4) Business
and Workforce Development.
With that was our new mission
statement, “To be an essential resource
and place for learning, engagement,
and innovation that provides
for our community's changing needs.”
Because, let's face it, that's the thing.
Our community is always changing
and we want to be a part of that.
Because libraries are in so many spaces.
Leon County alone has seven libraries.
A lot of times when people think of
the library, they think of downtown
where we have a lot of
programing going on.
But we have libraries in Fort Braden,
Woodville Community,
East Side, Northeast Branch
Library, and the B.L.
Perry Branch Library,
as well as Lake Jackson.
So with that, we are able
to offer programs in
all of those areas
that are a little bit
more community-focused.
[Keith] And like you said, when
people think of libraries,
they think of this quiet place, often
picture the bookshelves, as you described.
And that perception
sounds like has changed over the years
since you started
adopting your strategic plan in 2021.
So, one of the things that I find
most fascinating is just the focus
that the library is now
placing on career advancement.
Do you want to talk about that
a little bit for us?
[Pamela] Absolutely.
So it's funny because, under our Business and Workforce Development
focus area, we are committed
to helping people get jobs.
Let's face it, at the end of the day,
people need jobs.
They need to work.
But this really is not a new concept
for libraries.
One of the things that
we've always done
is when people come in
and they ask us questions, we help.
So I like to think about
how many times
we've had someone come in and, you know,
maybe they need assistance with a resume.
They don't know where to go,
but libraries are trusted spaces
and so they'll come to us,
and our staff are always eager to help.
One of the new things that we have in
our system is our CAT excavator simulator.
It's an idea that came about
when that pioneer group
went out and started looking at other
libraries, other communities.
What are some of the things
and programs that they were doing?
Well, under the surveys,
they found that as you drive
around town, you see a lot of
construction going on.
And these construction company
owners, they need skilled workers.
That is a priority for any employer.
I like to go even further than
construction, I like to think about tree
services.
[Keith] Right.
[Pamela] An excavator is a tool
that is needed for those.
[Keith] Yeah, you're right.
You drive around anywhere,
you see someone working a front loader
or skid steer or some type
of excavation equipment.
In the construction
and, like you say, professional services
industries across the board.
[Pamela] I have a friend who is in the
construction industry,
and we were sitting down talking and,
we're librarians—right?
This isn't our area specialty.
So we had to go out and ask people.
And one of the gentleman told me that—
and this is a game changer for me,
Keith, really—
he said, “Knowing the difference
between digging a trench one feet wide
and one feet and three inches can cost
a lot of money if it's not done correctly.”
[Keith] That's a good point.
Yeah.
[Pamela] I don't think that we think of that,
because that's not our area of specialty.
But when you start thinking
of the thousands of dollars
or even how much people
are having to pay,
because they don't have
people that are skilled
or they're having to teach them
these skills, or they're finding out
after the fact that somebody doesn't know
how to do something.
It can be quite costly. [Keith] Right.
[Pamela] So we worked with
the Public Works Department
from Leon County, and, had conversations
with other people in the industry,
and we found that this CAT simulator
was probably one of the best
simulators that we could come
up with for our area.
And one of the reasons
really was because
the barriers of licensing
have been removed.
[Keith] So you don't have to have a license
to operate a excavator now?
[Pamela] You do not.
You can get certificates
but you don't have to have a license.
I think that was really
one of the biggest things that we wanted
to be able to get people into jobs.
[Keith] Right. [Pamela] Right?
Sometimes going through
licensing programs and stuff like that,
as great as that is because that's going
to get you more money,
that doesn't work out for everybody.
So, with our program,
a person can come in and work
through the nine courses
in our SimScholar program, and they can
get a certificate of completion
through CAT and be ready to work.
The beautiful thing about
this program is it's
for anyone that's 18 or older,
have valid driver's license.
As for us, all you need is a
library card, right?
Your library card will get you access
to our CAT simulator at no cost.
[Keith] That's amazing.
So you said it’s nine courses?
[Pamela] Yes, there
are nine courses.
[Keith] Is it self-paced or how
do the logistics work out?
[Pamela] Okay.
So what a person will do is they start off
with contacting the library.
We will take you through our
45 minute intro course
to make sure that this is something
that a person really wants... [Keith] Okay.
[Pamela] ...and then they can sign up
for the SimScholar courses.
They are self-paced courses
that anyone can go through,
and at the very end of the program,
they get a certificate.
Now, you don't have to be in the library
to go through all of these courses.
These are online courses.
The simulator is in the library,
so it’s an option. [Keith] I see.
[Pamela] So if you want to come to the library
and sit in the simulator lab
and work on the courses,
that's perfectly fine.
Or if you want to get on the simulator,
after I think it's the second
session, you actually get
on the simulator.
But what I really
like about this
is that simulator will emulate
different times of day, different weather.
It will throw out different little—
like a person might be there
that wasn't there before.
So it simulates real-life situations.
And that was really valuable for us,
especially living in Florida.
Rains, you know, you got sun
and all of those things. [Keith] Right.
So basically, the training aspect of it
takes into all different circumstances,
like you mentioned, the
weather, safety—all the variables
that will go into any normal
training or hands-on learning experience
out in the field but you're doing it
in the safety of the library,
which is just mind blowing to me.
[Pamela] Absolutely.
Well, what's great about it
too is we are open until 9:00 PM, Monday
through Thursday, and we're also open
on Sundays and Saturdays.
So, that's another opportunity
for person to be able to come in,
when they get off work or before work.
So, they still have that opportunity
to be able to operate that simulator,
which was another thing that we thought
was really cool about getting this.
‘Cause people have to work.
[Keith] Yeah, and that
totally flips the script
what people expect
when they walk into a library.
I mean, no one would expect that
you can get some training on a excavator
and also get a certification
that you can take to an employer
say, “Hey, I’m trained on this vehicle
and I know how to operate it,”
that makes you more
marketable as a person.
And you said it's at no
cost to the users? [Pamela] No cost.
[Keith] No cost.
[Pamela] All you need
is the library card.
[Keith] Just the library card.
How much is the library card these days?
[Pamela] A library card is free!
[Keith] It's free!
[Pamela] To all our Leon County residents,
library cards are free.
However, we do have
the cards for people
who may not live in Leon County,
that are $30 a year.
[Keith] Okay. [Pamela] So, that
is something to consider.
If it is a person who lives
in another county
and they want to have access to this,
for $30 a year, you can still get access.
[Keith] You can have
access to it.
[Pamela] Library card is
free for anyone
living in Leon County, anyone
who is a Leon County employee—
that's a Leon County Government
employee, I want to make that clear.
Students can also get a
library card. [Keith] Okay.
Amazing, amazing.
So, the simulator is a
is a powerful example
of how the library has, like you mentioned
earlier, has transitioned to meet
the ever growing needs of the residents
in Tallahassee-Leon County.
Beyond the heavy equipment training,
what other workforce-focused programs
are residents using at our library?
[Pamela] Okay, so we just
had a second floor renovation,
and I want to talk a little bit more
about that later. [Keith] Okay.
[Pamela] But one of the things
that we have now is a career corner.
And so in that career corner, we work
really closely with CareerSource
as well as some of the other local,
career-type folks in the industry.
We work with Domi and such
to try to bring forth programing,
programing that focuses on career
readiness or even careers as well.
A perfect example is
we have coming up in January,
four workshops: (1) Finding Joy at Work,
(2) Goal Setting for Better Worlds,
(3) Mastering Time Management,
and (4) Resume Rescue.
These are four of the workshops that we've got going on just next month in January,
that people can come to for free,
and get advice or get assistance and help.
And that's one of the things
that we really want to do, is
we want to help people
who are at any stage of their job.
Making them happy.
[Keith] Yeah.
[Pamela] At work, because let's face it,
most of us spend a lot of time at work.
[Keith] Right.
[Pamela] And it needs to be a place
and an environment
that you have joy.
So, helping people kind of
reset sometimes at work.
And that's really why we
were looking at January.
January is the perfect time
to reset. [Keith] Right.
[Pamela] And we can do that.
Then we want to help people
through programing.
We've done programs
related to cover letters.
We had an entrepreneurial workshop,
not too long ago, which was successful.
We're going to probably do that again.
We like to showcase different
types of jobs as well.
We also work with teens.
We do teen job-related programing.
So, we're kind of all over the place.
And in our career
corner, they have this
great notebook that's
called Career Pathways.
So, let's say you have a
person who's not quite
sure where they are with
looking for a job or a career.
You can look in this notebook,
or even talk with some of our staff,
and they will help you get there.
[Keith] Yeah. That's excellent.
That's excellent, and I just keep harping
on this point, is that no cost?
[Pamela] At no cost at all. [Keith] At all.
So for our listeners, if you or
you know someone out there
that may need a resume reset,
there are workshops and resources
available at the Leon County
Library System, to assist in that.
Or if you are an employer and you have
employees that might need some upskilling,
or to take part of some type of training,
this resource is available for anyone.
So this is just an amazing resource.
And a lot of people don't
really understand, the value that the Leon
County Library System brings specifically
for the workforce in our community.
Sometimes people don't connect those dots.
So thank you, Pam,
for clearing that up for us.
Another area
where libraries play a huge role,
and you mentioned, small business
and entrepreneurship.
Can you walk us through some of the data
that is available at the library
for people who may be exploring
starting a small business,
or may want to get into entrepreneurship?
[Pamela] So, if you come and talk to—I'm
going to give you a name, she’s fantastic—
her name is Debbie McIntyre
and she is our Library
Special Services Coordinator
for Business and Workforce Development.
We also have Morgan Sykes,
who was our librarian.
These two dynamic women specialize
in our business and workforce
development area.
And one of the things that they do
is they sit down, they talk about,
and they look at, programs
that could be related
to our business and workforce
development focus area.
Another thing that they're doing
is constantly, out in the community,
looking at and talking to FAMU
Small Business (Development Center),
They've talked to Domi Station,
some of these other areas, and Jim Moran.
[Keith] Right.
[Pamela] Trying to develop programing
to assist people in this area,
because let's face it.
There's a lot of programs and stuff
that's going on out there,
but there are all these different pockets.
[Keith] Right.
[Pamela] So at the library, like
I said, being a trusted place,
being a place that people usually know
and they can locate it.
If we can assist with programing
that's related to being a
better entrepreneur
or anything like that,
that helps our entire community.
And it's so interesting.
My youngest son, David,
he is a photographer and he's a DJ,
he does all of these different things.
And when we had our entrepreneurial fair
the other month, I was like, “Oh,
this would have been great for him,”
because it connected the people that are
in our community already doing this
with the people who want to do this.
[Keith] Right. [Pamela] Right?
[Keith] Right.
[Pamela] And a lot of times,
the folks who want to do this
don't know where to go.
So, one of the things
that we're trying to
do is we're trying to be
a connector for the people
who want to start a business,
but aren't quite sure how to get started.
[Keith] How to get there.
Wow. So again, you're
continuing to play that
role of a resource provider.
Just like when people come in
and they're working
on a research paper here they're
for that research. [Pamela] Absolutely.
[Keith] and now it’s just, it’s, it’s being implemented in a completely different way. So.
[Pamela] I think that's a perfect way to
describe it is it's like a research paper.
I mean, we're librarians
and we're libraries.
Where do you go to get research?
Where do you go to get
good research? [Keith] Right.
[Pamela] Roughly that, you come
to the library—right?
[Keith] Yeah.
[Pamela] So, so that's
something that we're doing.
We're still doing those
things that we've always done.
It's just now on a bigger, broader scale.
And it's in a beautiful space.
[Keith] Yeah.
So, speaking of space—and you
touched on it just a little bit earlier—
the library has gone through some recent
renovations at the main library.
I had an opportunity,
and thank you so much for graciously
inviting me to the open house
and the ribbon cutting event
that you had there.
But, can you share what's new
and what space has been enhanced
and how the community can
really make the most of these updates?
[Pamela] This is my pride and joy.
[Keith] Yeah.
[Pamela] And I say that because,
and I mentioned this at the ribbon cutting,
the first day that I came to work
for Leon County Government,
I walked into this architectural
committee meeting.
So I was able to assist
with designing the second floor.
And it is an amazing space.
The lights, the usage of
the space is different.
All of those things
were things that we thought about
when we were putting this together.
So, I like to tell everybody,
same number of books.
We did not remove any books.
We just relocated some books.
And we took the shelving,
which was this eight foot
shelving down to about six feet.
That, of course, allowed a lot more light
to come in. [Keith] And open this space up all.
I mean, it was... [Pamela] and not only,
and I think about not only did it open up
the space, but it allowed us to add
13 additional rooms.
[Keith] I see, okay.
[Pamela] For people to book.
So that's what I'm going to talk about.
So we have 8 small group,
or individual, study rooms.
I have an academic background,
I came from FAMU,
and one of the things that I know students
love is to have a study room.
They will work in the library
independently at tables,
but when you've got a group of students
who need to talk and have conversations,
or they need a place to hunker down
in for about a couple of hours to study,
that's not always on the floor.
So, with this new design,
we actually have six study rooms
that are anywhere from 1 to 4 people,
and they are glassed in.
So you've got enough privacy
where you're in a study room,
but also we can see
what's going on.
We have huddle rooms,
and we've named them
affectionately, because the huddle
rooms are 6-person rooms.
And there's a table
with more office-style
chairs where people can sit in
and get some other work done.
So it's a larger group.
We have what we call
the gathering rooms,
two small gathering rooms
which have comfortable seating.
And both of our gathering rooms
serve up to 4 people.
And then we have a large gathering room,
which is one of my favorite rooms.
I call it the Book Club Room,
but it's got soft seating,
a couple of sofas in there,
and some more comfortable chairs.
Now what we really added
was these three meeting spaces.
These are meeting rooms,
and each of our meeting rooms
has a 98 inch monitor or TV in them
with computer hookups.
So, one of one of them is like a classroom.
[Keith] Okay.
[Pamela] And there I think it's
got a 20-person capacity.
We have another that we call
the Little Board Room,
which has an 18-person capacity.
And then there's Meeting Room A,
which is the larger room,
which has a 24-person capacity,
but that one also has a webcam in it.
So let's say that you
had a larger meeting,
but you also needed to do it virtually.
it gives you a hybrid option.
[Keith] That's amazing.
So, you’ve got all of these
meeting spaces and it sounds like
it's not just for studying,
which is important.
When we go back and start talking
about the entrepreneurial aspects of it.
I mean, if you've got an entrepreneur
who may not have a conference room,
or is trying to pull people together
and they need some privacy,
they can avail themselves
of these spaces as well.
You've got audio visual equipment.
So if someone wants to do a presentation,
maybe a pitch to some partners
or investors, they could
utilize that space.
And it seems like it's such a brilliant
idea to have those options available
for any type of meeting or gathering where
you're sharing ideas or collaborating.
So, I think that is
spot-on in terms of how
entrepreneurs, especially
the younger generation,
how they like to work,
and interact, and collab.
[Pamela] You hit the nail
dead on the head.
When we were designing these spaces,
those are the people that we had in mind.
[Keith] Yeah. [Pamela] We were
thinking about if I need to have
a business meeting, but
I don't have a large business.
If there's only 10 people in my entire
business, or three, sometimes
you need to have a meeting where
you don't want to pay for a meeting space.
Because remember, all you
need is your library card...
[Keith] Right. [Pamela] ...to book
a room. [Keith] Yeah.
[Pamela] And then I left out one
of the most important spaces,
which is our sound booth—
it's a podcasting room.
[Keith] Right. It’s soundproof.
And when you were going to show it to me,
it was already booked.
There were people using this room.
But from what I could tell, it had, like,
some sound dampening measures
that were in place,
interactive soundboard with microphones,
professional microphones.
So, kinda unpack that for us.
[Pamela] Okay. So, once
again, not the experts.
So, we talked to some experts
and we wanted to design a space
where people could record sound
without having all of
that background sound.
So, we spoke with our IT office
and we also spoke with
some folks over at FSU
to make sure that we were giving
the people what they needed.
Right?
It doesn't make any sense
for us to design these spaces,
if it's not what people are going to use.
So we do have four RODE
microphones in there.
We also have Audacity on the computer
that is in there,
and it is truly a soundproof room.
And there's also a screen
that can come down
so that if the person decides
that they want to do video.
We don't have the video equipment
in there yet, but if a person does,
so no one can see what you're doing
on the inside, it's nice and dark.
We got a compliment from
Tom Flannigan with WFSU.
He said, “This is some
great equipment.”
So, you know, when you
hear that. [Keith] Yeah, I know.
[Pamela] It made my heart just sing
because that meant
that we went in into this
with the right idea.
And, you know, it's
not just for podcast, right?
Maybe somebody wants to record
their oral history.
[Keith] Right.
[Pamela] Maybe you have someone
who is trying to record for their business,
and they don't need all the
background noise and all of that,
and you don't want to just do it
on your phone. The beautiful thing about
this is you don't have to know
how to use the equipment.
We have a 15 minute demo
that you do before booking the room,
but we also have in the room
a little booklet that shows how to use
all of the equipment.
[Keith] Excellent.
[Pamela] And that's one of the things
that we like to do with libraries.
We don't want to overcomplicate things.
[Keith] Right. [Pamela] Because
everybody is using it, right? [Keith] Right.
[Pamela] We want it to be simple
enough that anyone can use it,
but be sophisticated enough
that you're getting quality.
[Keith] Absolutely. Absolutely.
So, we've covered a lot of ground,
Pamela. Thank you so
much for your patience
and helping us walk through all of these
wonderful things that you and your team
are doing on a daily basis
at the Leon County Library System.
So, looking ahead,
what excites you most about
what's next for the Leon County
Library Services?
What gets you excited
about your job?
[Pamela] Oh, boy.
I absolutely love this system.
I think what I love the most
is we are so community-focused.
People give us ideas,
we listen to them,
we research them, and we see,
how can we make that happen?
One of the things that, as
I was talking with my group
that we would love to do
is, you know, partnerships.
We'd like to collaborate more
with local businesses.
Having the library be like a third
place is really one of our goals.
The growth of our career corner,
but also, our business and
workforce development
focus area in general.
Experts as partners.
You know, we have someone
who is an expert in an area.
We are always looking for these experts
as partners because our staff,
you know, they do a great
job of finding experts.
But, if you are an expert in an area,
come and see us and say, “Hey,
how can we possibly do
a program together?”
Because we know that new jobs
are always being created and we know that
we also don't know everything.
And we'd love to find ways
to showcase these things to the
public, through our programs.
So, the best thing that people can do
is if we call, answer us!
So, we can make a program related to it.
And, of course,
one of the things that I want to always do
is increase our visits, right?
Come into our space and look at it.
And it's not just for the business world
or the entrepreneur,
where our library here is for everyone.
And I think that's the thing
that I'm always telling people, is that
the beautiful thing about public libraries,
and Leon County Public Library, is
we are a library for every
single person in our community
regardless of who they are,
where they've come from.
And so when you keep
that in mind, when you're thinking
about libraries, it's
like, man, that's huge.
[Keith] That is.
[Pamela] Because our
community is so diverse.
We want to make sure that everyone
sees themself in our library system.
[Keith] That's amazing, I love that.
I love it!
For our listeners who are thinking, “I
didn't realize the library did all this.”
You know, what’s the first
step that you take to encourage?
I know you're looking for partners,
you're looking for visitors, but is there
a website where people can go
to find out more information
about all the services—
the location, the operating hours,
all those good things?
[Pamela] Absolutely.
And it's very easy.
It is Leon County Library dot org.
(www.LeonCountyLibrary.org)
[Keith] Leon County Library dot org. (www.LeonCountyLibrary.org) [Pamela] Yes.
[Keith] Well, excellent!
Pamela, is there anything else
you want to share with us?
I know I've picked your brain
pretty thoroughly here, I feel like.
[Pamela] You know,
so many things.
I've got lots of things
going on at the library.
But, I think I want to
stay focused here with:
come in, see what we're doing,
and we we'd love to continue
to get visitors.
We are fortunate enough
to be a system that has nearly half
of our Leon County residents
are library card holders.
[Keith] That's amazing.
[Pamela] It's 46%.
[Keith] That is excellent.
That is excellent.
[Pamela] I'd love for
that to be 51%, at least.
[Keith] Okay. We're working on it.
[Pamela] And there is our challenge, right?
But, it is amazing because we have
so many things that we have to offer.
So come on in. [Keith] Well,
you heard it, you heard it.
You got a personal invitation
from Miss Pamela Monroe,
who is the Director of Library Services
for Leon County.
So, Pamela, thank you!
Not just for being on the podcast,
but for the work that you and your team
are doing every day to expand
opportunities in our community.
And to our listeners, whether you're
looking to learn a new skill, explore
a career path, start a business, or simply
see what's new at the main library.
I encourage you to check
out Leon County Library Services.
As we sign off, this has
been Economic Vitality Unplugged.
I'm Keith Bowers, and thanks for listening,
and we'll see you next time.
[Inspirational music]