Rina Banerjee has been the branch manager of the West Windsor library for close to three months and has had a very busy summer. “I find the work most exhilarating,” she says. “With such a large and active branch like ours, I find that in any given moment, I have at least five issues that need my attention right away.”
Banerjee began working with Mercer County Library Systems in 2006 as the computer trainer at the Lawrence branch and for six years she supervised the computer training department at the headquarters branch. “We offered 26 to 30 classes per month in a variety of computer-related topics from basic computer literacy to Microsoft Office 2007,” Banerjee says. “Apart from the classroom presentations, I really enjoyed creating new classes, developing lesson plans and handouts, and producing a monthly class calendar.”
Banerjee also worked at the reference desk answering “a variety of questions ranging from readers’ advisory to tracking down obituaries and information on rare coins, particulars about good dentists and doctors, and searching for details about diseases that patrons were too self-conscious about to ask their doctor,” Banerjee says.
Born and raised in India, Banerjee came to America after finishing high school. “My love of reading and books was fostered early on by my father, who would read wonderful stories, ballads, and epic poems out loud to me,” she says. Their favorite was Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade.”
“I got my first library card when I was in the third grade,” she says. “I was a typical only child with my nose buried in a book. As a child, I loved adventure stories and tales of heroism where, in spite of the odds stacked against her or him, the underdog managed to win.”
“I have lived in Louisiana, and in Texas, in China and Japan, but I found my niche in New Jersey,” she says.
Banerjee has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in English literature, and a master’s degree in library and information science from Rutgers. “I have a genuine passion for promoting the library and library related services: not only do the residents get the latest bestsellers and DVDs, but they can get their documents notarized, get help with their Microsoft Office documents, get answers to their reference questions, and have access to various reference databases to do extensive research,” Banerjee says.
Her daughter received a master’s degree in public health from Yale and is a research data analyst at the school. Her son received a degree in economics from NYU and works on Wall Street. “He fell in love with the city,” she says.
The family moved to Lawrenceville about seven years ago due to her husband’s new job as a technical consultant for an engineering group in Philadelphia. Though she enjoyed working at Bernards Township Library in Basking Ridge, the commute was tiring.
“It was very fortunate when I saw a senior librarian/trainer position advertised at the Lawrence library and jumped at the chance to work in a wonderful library, close to home,” she says.
Now her five-minute commute to the Lawrence library has expanded to 15 minutes. “West Windsor is a great town and this library is one of the prettiest of all the branches,” Banerjee says. “It is also one of the busiest.”
During the month of August, 21,238 people visited the library and 1,787 people attended the children’s summer reading events. “We answered 1,543 reference questions, handed out 170 new library cards, and checked out 50,876 materials,” Banerjee says. “How heartening to know that we have such avid library users.
“I am very proud to be working in a five-star library system and in a branch where the staff will happily answer all your questions, track down arcane articles, assist with computer and ESL classes, entertain children with storytimes, help teens with their homework — and try to keep them involved with advisory groups and reading programs,” Banerjee says.
