At Home At The Lorton Library

Barbara Schrantz has reached the pinnacle of her career as a librarian - so far. After 11 years and five Fairfax County Public Library positions, she was named the branch manager of the last month. 

"I listen," said Schrantz, describing her leadership style. "I am open to suggestions and I believe we are all capable of growing. I'm a lifelong advocate of learning, and what better place to learn than a library?"

Schrantz was born into a military family and her childhood and adolescence were spent traveling. She originally wanted to be a special education teacher, and fell in love with libraries as an undergraduate student at Virginia Tech. "In the library they had these back issues of periodicals in the basement. I thought it was so cool to look at these old magazines," she said. 

Schrantz became a nurse after grad school at the University of Washington, and worked in hospitals in Washington State, Arizona, Washington, DC and Virginia. Once in Virginia, she got married, had two kids and then (after going to school full time for two years) received a degree in library science from Catholic University. She lives with her family in central Fairfax County.       

Can You Help Me? 

Being a nurse is sort of like being a librarian. "You develop great people skills in the sense of being empathetic and being sensitive to the way you ask questions of people to help them find what they need," Schrantz said. "People come into the library wanting to know all sorts of things. You might have someone come in with a limb from a tree and say: 'I don't know what this is or if it's poisonous. Can you help?'"

Schrantz started work at the Kings Park Community Library in 2000 as an electronic specialist. She was there for four years and left to take charge of youth services at the Pohick Regional Library for a year-and-a-half before becoming the Sunday manager at Sherwood Hall Regional Library for a year. Next was a year-long stint as the deputy manager of the Centreville branch, and then her most recent position - back to Kings Park for a four year stint as the assistant branch manager. 

"I wanted to get a lot of experience," Schrantz said. "It's a great way to get to know the County, and I promise you, all the branches are unique. I believe so positively about what the library system does that I've gotten so many marvelous experiences. They want you to grow as much as you want to."

What Does She Think About Lorton? 

"It's a gem of a branch. Many of our staffers have been here longer than 10 years, and that speaks highly of the commitment this staff has to the County," said Schrantz, who manages 10 full and part-time employees. "It's one of the smallest branches, but technology is the great equalizer and we all have the same technology as the large branches."

Schrantz took over for former branch manager Susan Larson, who left to become the editor of the Burke Patch. "Susan left her legacy and I'm building on that," she said. 

Schrantz proudly owns a Kindle. "The beauty is that these electronic readers haven't reduced our resources or services. It's just made things deeper, because you have people who are comfortable with that technology, who like the 24-hour access."

As a fan of non-fiction, Schrantz recommends "Team of Rivals", "The Emperor of All Maladies" and "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks".