Lizzie Pshyk tells kids she’s “way weirder than you guys know,” wielding her explosive energy and unique accents to keep them invested in the games and activities she plans.
Lizzie Pshyk popped out from behind rows of bookshelves at the C.B. Hildebrand Library with a grin on her face, ready for the kids arriving by noon.
When Pshyk landed in the library as a kid, she said she knew immediately what she wanted to be when she grew up.
“Her name was Ms. Valerie,” the branch library manager at C.B. Hildebrand Library said. “She ran the children’s room, and I was all of 3 or 4 and I wanted to be her. She was just so cool to me. She really made an impact as a kid, because she remembered my name, and I was homeschooled, and that mattered to me.”
Pshyk practically grew up in the library. When the young adult coordinator at the time started giving a teenage Pshyk tasks to keep her engaged, she turned out to be a natural.
“It was the only thing that made sense to me,” Pshyk explained. “I don’t fit in a lot of boxes.”
Pshyk went on to work as a library assistant until she graduated from North Carolina Central University with a master’s degree in library science (MLS) in 2019.
While she loved the technical aspects of university learning, she held up her mentors in the Burke County library system as beacons of what it means to be a librarian.
“Everything I know about doing my job well, I learned from people who did not have their MLS, who served their communities,” Pshyk said. “We have one (staff member) here, she’s been here almost 50 years. … She is one of those quiet horses that I think when she retires, I’m just gonna go with her.”
Pshyk smiles beneath a packed calendar of events for young adults, many of which she coordinates and plans.
Pshyk explained the job is more than just managing a “warehouse of books.”
From studying national trends to monitoring the book lists of Oprah Winfrey and Reese Witherspoon to analyzing the local population to best serve each individual, reader or not, Pshyk explained that the work focused much more on community outreach than collection building.
She plans events for teens, asking them directly what they want from the library, and making sure that programs aren’t too infantilizing.
“One year, they did ‘Underwater,’ and they just gave a seahorse earbuds,” she said. “The kids were like, ‘We’re not doing that. That’s stupid.’”
This year, the theme is “Game On at Your Library.” Last week, the Morganton library hosted an “Among Us” night, turning the popular video game into a live action game, equipped with airhorns and task cards.
“Among Us” is a video game where players perform tasks while trying to identify an imposter camouflaged to look like their avatars.
Decorations from Super Mario and other games reflect the young adult activities theme for the summer: Game On at Your Library.
When she’s not at the library, her interests tend to mirror her work.
She often travels with her husband, spending several weekends a year working at The Side Deck Gaming Cafe in Lexington, S.C., and around the nation as a Yu-Gi-Oh trading card tournament event staff member.
“We don’t have kids, and we want to be kids for a little while,” she said. “If you look in my workbag on my lunch break, you’ll see a ball of yarn, a crochet hook, and my (Nintendo) Switch.”
Although she plays video games and helps with the Yu-Gi-Oh events, she said her heart’s in Dungeons & Dragons, which she plays with her coworkers and teens on library event nights.
As a librarian, she did have one book recommendation: “Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind” by Ann Ross.
“You walk into my library (and say), ‘I just want a book to read that’s great,’” she said, slapping her hand down on the table. “If you’re into mysteries, that’s gonna be in there. If you’re looking for funny, it’s gonna be in there. If you’re looking for local, it’s gonna be in there. You want something that’s not spicy? That’s it.”
But to Pshyk, the library isn’t just for readers and teens looking for something to do for the summer. It’s for everybody, and she’ll make sure visitors find what they’re looking for.
“I firmly believe that every book is not for every reader, but there is a book for everybody,” she said. “What are you into? Because I promise I can find you something. That’s how it is — it’s talking. It is connecting with your community, and the irony of ‘The way to be a good librarian is by being loud and talking to people’ is not lost on me.
“You can’t say that you’re a library staff member until you’ve been shushed by a patron. I’ve been shushed so many times.”
