Sheronda Sanders’ world is focused on the Selma-Dallas County Public Library.

“I love it….I love it,” she said, as she spoke with great enthusiasm about her many years of work – 13 altogether – since 1996 as information services coordinator.

She was the first to hold that particular office which had previously been known as reference librarian.

Sanders is responsible for print and non-print reference materials for the library but her interests and responsibilities extend much further.

Basically, Sanders simply loves libraries.

“When I was in college,” she said, “I never even looked for a non-library job.”

She grew up in the county

and attended Valley Grande Elementary and graduated from Dallas County High School. After two years at Wallace Community College and one year at the University of West Alabama, she completed

a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts at Auburn University, Montgomery.

Sanders began working at the Selma-Dallas County Public Library in May 1991 following graduation from high school and assumed her present position Sept. 1, 1996, following graduation from AUM in May of that year. In between she worked continually in the Selma library except for the year at the University of West Alabama. She also worked in the Selma library the two years she attended AUM, in addition to working in the AUM library.

There was something about the Selma library that captivated her and would not let her go.

Sanders is particularly proud of her team in the Reference Department. “I work with the most wonderful people in the world,” she said.

Sanders recalled that her first job was part of the team that entered the entire inventory of the library plus the library’s users into the computer system, which took a large number of staff and volunteers an extended period of time. “It was so exciting,” she said.

But her work is not just at the desk in the Reference Department. She’s out on the floor most of the day, and every day is different.

“One minute I’ll be helping someone working on a computer terminal

who wants to go to Virginia, and the next taking the computer apart to fix something that’s gone wrong. One minute I’ll be helping someone read a letter they’ve received and another I’ll be helping someone find out information on someone who lived in 1832,” she said. “It’s a good thing and it’s fun,” she added.

Sanders loves the people she meets in the course of her work.

“Everyone whom I meet in the library has a story. I wouldn’t know their stories or understand the people in this community if I did not work here….I also love research and I love learning.”

Sanders is active in her church – Queen of Peace Catholic – and works with the Sunday school program in the parish Office of Religious Education, which is currently without a religious education director.

Sanders sees her work in the library as seeking answers to questions. “People come here with questions,” she said, “and they hope to find the answers here. They always do, and if we don’t have the answer we can point them in directions which will lead them to the answers they seek.”

Sanders has one son Jon, 1, whom she says keeps her busy. As the son of a librarian he is already reading everything he can get his hands on, she said. Most children have a favorite book, she said, and his is “Brown Bear Brown Bear” by Eric Carle.

Sanders is working hard as a member of the library staff team to vision for the future as part of the library’s centennial celebration culminating next Tuesday, July 20. “I believe the library will continue to grow over the next 10 years and beyond,” she said, “because the people in this town love their library.”

She’s a believer in the truth of the saying, “If you build it they will come.”

She points proudly to the computer center on the second floor. “We have more than 100 people each day using the computers in the library.”