Edward Melton Interview -- Video Recording

Hello, this is Harris County Public Library staff member brian crowd ish interviewing Edward Mountain. I have been with the Harris County public library for seven years and I'm recording this interview on january 20th 2021 at the administration library. Hello, this is Edward melting library director for

Harris County Public Library. I've been with the library now for six years and I'm recording this interview from my home. Excellent. So this is really, really exciting the Harris County Public Library celebrating 100 years this year and our system has many great programs and celebrations that

we've planned and one of those is to collect stories from our staff, our patrons are friends of the library, retired staff, basically we're collecting stories from our family that we want to record and share with everybody that's watching. So today I'm so very happy to have

this opportunity to ask a few questions of our library director. Edward melton. Edward, thank you so much for chatting with me today. Oh yes, it's great to have this conversation with you and be able to tell my story for, for the centennial. You know what, I'm

really excited about what we're getting ready to do this year, celebrating 100 years of service to Harris County, a lot of things going on, great years to celebrate, you know, we're gonna be coming out of this Kobe pandemic and and a lot of great things going

to happen for the library. Yeah, it is going to be fantastic and I'm really excited to hear your story too. I know you like to share your story. Um and in fact we're going to start right at the beginning. So tell me about your memories of

visiting the library as a child. So, you know, my first memories of visiting library is that I grew up with my grandparents and so they weren't really uh supportive in terms of actually taking me to the library themselves. And so what we would do is me

and my sister and our friends, we would ride our bikes for about a mouth. So go to the library and check out books in the first book that I remember really checking out is uh The Shoes, your own adventure books. Uh Also there was a graphic

novels, we call the comics back then called Elf Quest. Uh So my first really interesting reading and I'd really like to choose your own adventure because you can choose all these different pathways to end up would end up being the same results anyway, but it was

a good opportunity to expand my my my my imagination and my uh interest in reading. And then l question just took me on all these different adventures into a world that didn't exist but would really express my imagination. So I really do appreciate having the opportunity

to go to a public library as a as a kid and being able to have that access to materials that we didn't have at home. So I've got to ask did you peek ahead that you choose to hunt adventurers and and decide which path or did

you follow the rules. So, uh this is hilarious because it really goes into my reading habits now because now even as I read books, I skip ahead and chapters and I kind of, I look at the table contents, identify the chapter that I want to read,

read those specific chapters and so I skipped read and so I kind of cheat read when I, when I read books and I will read the 1st, 1st introductory um chapter and I'll read the last chapter and then I'll go back and read in between to

see any little spots that I might have missed. So I definitely would would would kind of cheap the picture taking excitement out of it because I couldn't wait to kind of figure out what would happen in those stories. You know, I don't think you're the only

one I know I read them and I did the same thing I would, I would do, I want to go, no, no, go back my fingers still on the page and I can go back, especially when your story ended fast. We choose chosen wrong, the wrong

ending your appropriate ended. So yes, totally understand. Go back. You want to go back, you want the whole thing. So, so when, and why did you become decided to become a library professional? Where did you get that decision from? You know, when I first went going

to college undergrad, I thought that I wanted to be a teacher and so I graduated and got a degree in history and secondary education, I taught school for for about two years, but it wasn't fulfilling, like I thought it would be in terms of being educated

and being able to teach. And so during that experience, I had a mentor who worked in the media center of what the library, that high school that I worked in and I also had a part time job at a public library in that area. And it

was so happened that the same library that was at the school that I taught at was the same, but he did have a nice year at the public library I worked in. And so I asked him, I said, well, you know, what's the deal, why do

you, why do you work at the school and then work at the public library? So he said, well I have the summers off and so they feel my summers, I just work at the public library in the afternoons or evenings. I work at the public library

in order to create that balance between, you know, working at school and also working at at the public library. And he start, we started talking and he started telling me about how it was so fulfilling in terms of him being able to teach students without having

to deal with classroom structure, teaching to the test, uh worrying about, you know whether his Children or students were going to succeed based on teaching or testing criteria. And so I looked at that and immediately after having that conversation with him I started my my library

program and I quit working at school, started working full time at the public library. And uh from there it was it was it was a no brainer that I knew that that was my what I was meant to do in life in terms of working in

public libraries. Uh It did also during while I was working on my mls, I had I was fortunate enough that that was the same time that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was putting technology in libraries. And so with that experience I got an internship and

as soon as I graduated I thought that I would be uh wanted to be a Children's librarian, so I thought I was going to jump in and be a Children's librarian. But the Gates Foundation recruited me to come out to Seattle and so I traveled for

about three years across the country in terms of putting technology and libraries. Um And and so it took me into a whole totally different direction in terms of really get a sense of the value of technology and communities and how it can create or reduce that

digital divide in terms of people having access to computers, broadband connectivity. Uh And it also sharpen my skills in terms of being uh pretty much I. T. Type professional semi professional in terms of understanding that that value that brings some libraries and so uh after that

experience I came back to Houston started as a Children's librarian, came back to my passion in terms of being a Children's librarian. I did that for uh for about three years and then I promoted up into management and then when they want to be administrative uh

librarian or for Houston public library and it was it was you know for me everything kind of fell into place because even with that experience I was able to go back and utilize my technology skills because I was able to be the administrative manager for the

H. P. L. Express libraries which was the technology driven libraries or model concept they had. And so it really honed in on in terms of my skills and being able to utilize what I had my experiences in terms of technology and and really connected to the

community and having those core programming skills from being a Children's library. And it really kicked off my career and and kind of jumpstarted me into being an administrator. Uh there I went off to SAn Francisco and really had a great experience being there cheaper branches and

managing their branch libraries in SAn Francisco. I learned a lot there learned a lot about how to navigate and maneuver in terms of working with within a county city and county government uh agency. Uh and it really helped me to hold my skills and develop so

that I could become the director that I am now, wow. So you know, that goes right into our next question. Um, if you could, what advice would you give your younger self, like when you started out your library career, what advice would you give yourself? You

know, the thing that I would uh that I've always told myself and and and it really kind of goes back to my grandparents. My grandfather always instilled in me to, you know, if you work hard, it's gonna pay off. And so we did, you know, as

a kid, I did a lot of farming with my grandfather and so, you know, it was a lot of, it's a lot of hard work when you talk about blame, you're raising livestock and with that we would see the fruit of our labor because we would

eat those vegetables, we would, we would, we would uh either the livestock that we grew and so you created a different type of value in terms of your work. And so with that work ethic and really helped me and my and my later later in life

in terms of having that hard work ethic. And so what if I went back, I would, I would just reiterate that that to my, my younger stuff and just say, you know work hard, don't stop, continue to do what you do because of work will pay

off and it will speak for itself. And so that's the great thing about the work that I do now, you know, it's not about, you know, having to be, you know, in on uh, flamboyant or, or, or expressing, you know, being in the limelight in terms

of the work that I do, the work that I do speaks for itself in terms of the direction that the organization is going in. The great work that we're doing. The partnerships and the great community connections, the opportunities that I have to work with staff and

the opportunities that I have to be able to provide staff to be creative and do this wonderful work that we're doing this libraries, wow, that's that's really neat. And I had no idea that that you were raising livestock as uh, as you were younger. That's that's

what's so fun about these things as you learn, you learn so much about your coworkers or your library directors and we get to share that with everybody. Um, so, so kind of going along with what you were saying, what do you think the biggest changes in

libraries or where do you see the future of libraries going? And I know you love to talk about this. You know, I really, we talked about changing libraries. I don't look at. It really has changed. I look at this opportunity. So when I about the libraries

and opportunities, it's endless possibilities of what we can do. So, you know, when we talk about books, you know, book is our core product, but technology has changed the landscape in terms of how we provide access to books and reading materials. And so at the core

of what we do is providing access to information. And so as we provide access to information regardless of what the format is, it still allows us to be creative and innovative in our approach to provide that level of access. So whether it's providing access to digital

content or print content to me, it's all the same. And so the great thing about libraries for me and then working in this environment is that we have no limits. We have no boundaries, you know, when we talk about libraries, libraries, access to information and everything

is revolves around information, revolves around knowledge, revolves around people learning, gaining new experiences and the beauty of it all in the public library is that it's informal learning, you people choose what they learned, people choose what their interests are, People you know, indulge in their interests

and and with that is not controlled by anyone but themselves. And so for me, it's that whole thing of self motivation, self interest, self inspiration. How do people connect to the things that they gravitate towards the things that they like, one out of the library and

really emerge themselves in those things so they can be the greatest or the reach their potential that they have in life. And so with that we're just a tool, the public library is just a tool for people to utilize in order to be the greatest or

their best selves. So that's one of the reasons why I really love libraries. And when we talk about the future of libraries, we're gonna be here, you know, here for is it one of the things about a democrat democratic societies that we are the we leverage

the playing field, we make it so that regardless of what your background is, what your race is, what your economic status is, it doesn't matter. Everyone has free access to public libraries, especially here in America we take for granted sometimes the opportunities that we have in

terms of free learning opportunities. But and and so here we do have public libraries that provide a wealth of resources to our communities for free. And so with that, as technology evolves as, you know, information involved as people evolve in terms of how they access that

information, we have opportunities to recreate, reinvent, rethink how we provide access. But we'll always need to be, we will always have value because we are that that free access point people across the country in order for them to be able to learn and be where they

want to be regardless of what that is. Yeah. And I get that question every now and then from people who say, why are you in the library? What's the future when I hear you say that it's so inspiring. I really I agree like we're not going

anywhere and I'm just so glad that you're able to share that with us all and I hope everyone else gets that same thing to, we're not going anywhere. Um So I want I want to end on a kind of a funny one maybe or or maybe

not funny but tell me about the most challenging or funniest moments you've experienced as a library professional know all librarians of a funny story, what funny story can you share with us? You know? Well I don't know if it's really funny but one of the things

that happen to me when I first went to san Francisco is uh and I was and I didn't understand the authority that I had as a chief of branches. I asked the question to uh to my assistant, I asked why didn't we have a lock on

a door that we kept computers? It's a building with a lot of people had access to. And and I asked that question like well why don't we secure secure that technology and and what is not a lock on the door so that we can you know

know who comes in and out. And so the next day I came in and all of the locks on all of the doors have locks on. And so even I didn't have a key but it was because I had prompted that question that my sister thought

that I was asking or you know wanted locks on the doors. And so that was one of the funniest things that happened, maybe really understand, you know, that I have to be mindful and thoughtful about the things that I asking people or how I asked because

they made me think that I'm giving them a director when I really just enquiring about a particular thing. And so I'm very mindful that now in terms of not not locking all the doors, uh people a of the way that position the things that I say

to people uh in this position that I have now were people able to get into the building after after a bit you look out for the day, by the end of the day, everyone had access. But it was challenging that day because everyone was kind of

uh frustrated at the point was just like who request to be and then it was you who actually kind of changed the story. But it was kind of hilarious that we even went through the process of of having the locks changed on all the doors. That

is funny and and I'll be really careful not to ask that of anybody that I'm supervising because I don't need my door's locked on me. So, so you know, just one last one real real quick and then we'll be done for for our little chat. So

you know, being a library director, it's got to be very different than a lot of other librarian positions that you've had. Is there anything that you miss from some of your earlier non administrative director positions? You know, one of the things that I truly miss is

story time. So you know the Children's librarian and I enjoyed that experience and it's something that happens when you read stories to Children that really likes uh something inside of them. You know, I don't know if it's the, you know, the stories that they haven't heard

before or the emphasis that we put all the energy that we put into those uh to read to Children. Uh but they give you that energy back. And so I love telling stories, I love reading the Children. Uh it's really a thing where even now as

a director I get a chance to sometimes go out and do you know summer reading program readings or or read do santa claus or christmas readings during the holidays. And so every now and then I'll step back and do those type of pro those types of

programs because I really, you know, that's one of the things that I really missed. But as a director, you can always go back and kind of go back and do those type of type of things in terms of engaging in those type of activities. So I

really did, it still do enjoy story time. So when I get that it's of that bug, whether it's in the summer or the winter, I'm always able to go back and do that type of work in terms of of getting given that energy to the Children

and then given that energy back to me in terms of restarted my focus in terms of being a library. Because really that's where my passion started out in terms of being a library is really touching youth and helping them to understand the power that they possess

and understanding. You know, just by simple behavior of reading how it can change your life, how you can open your your mind of different ideas, different thoughts, different perspectives, different values. And so, you know, reading can take you into a totally different direction that you thought

take it to different levels that you never thought that you could you could reach. And so really that is one of the core values that I try to drive in terms of a library system itself. You know, how do we engage people into this behavior of

reading and and enjoy it? So that becomes just a habit, you know, enjoyable habit that we embrace as part of our everyday lives. And so, you know, whether you're reading a comic book or reading a novel or reading nonfiction or fiction, it doesn't matter, it doesn't

matter if you're reading just an article or paragraph. The thing is as long as you read to expand your mind to expand your thinking and now you don't even have to read the book, you can get out of your book and just listen to them. So

you know, there's no limits on terms in terms of people getting access to information and learning as long as you can hear, as long as you can see, as long as you can read. You know, there's value in being able to process and access information. I

think that's perfect. I don't think there's anything else we need to go over. It is a great way to end. Um so everybody watching, I want to say thank you again Edward for for meeting with me today. And um we hope that you enjoy the rest

of our centennial stories. I know we have a lot more coming along and well you enjoy the rest of the centennial. Thank you. It was a pleasure. Thank you brian you're welcome