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POMEROY - Pomeroy Public Library Director Elizabeth Meyer has been on the job only six months, but already she's earning high marks from other library employees.

"She's very good with customers," said Assistant Librarian Kathy Allen. "Liz takes time with people. She listens to them."

Allen said Meyer is also good with teenagers.

"She's very tactful when she explains the rules to kids," Allen said.

Meyer said that one of the best things about her position is the people.

"I'm a social person," she said.

Meyer has lived in Pomeroy for 20 years with her husband, Brian Meyer. They have two children, Ashley and Ben, both of whom graduated from the Pomeroy-Palmer School District.

In addition to her position at the library, Meyer also owns two stores located in the Pomeroy Mini Mall.

Almost every day, she closes the doors at Meyer's General Store and Elizabeth's Americana Shop just after lunch and heads across the hall to the library where she works most afternoons.

Assistant Librarian Karen Schwardtz said that because a library director has so much to do, learning the job can be overwhelming.

Meyer, who is new to the field of work, said she must take two eight-week courses in library management to become certified. She said she must become certified within two years of being hired.

"Sometimes Liz felt she wasn't measuring up," said Schwardtz, "but we told her we've been here forever."

"And Liz was willing to let us advise her on some things," said Allen.

"We all make mistakes," said Schwardtz, "but the three of us can laugh about it."

"We're happy here," said Meyer.

Meyer said that Allen and Schwardtz are integral to the success of the library. The two assistants have been on hand since before the Pomeroy library moved into its present location, about 25 years ago.

Working closely together, the three librarians host various functions, Meyer said.

Children's programming at the library this summer included two parties for 3- to 5-year-olds, a Fishing Outing for the boys and a Fancy Nancy Princess Party for the girls. The grade school aged children of the area also had a summer reading program.

"The kindegarteners through third grade in one group and the fourth- and fifth-graders in another," said Meyer, "with reading, a snack, a game and a craft or two."

In a town of 700 people, the library becomes a gathering place for all ages and a hub for all information, Meyer said.

"It's either us or Casey's," she said, "but we don't serve doughnuts."

Meyer said that the library has served coffee, however.

"During Second Saturdays," she said. "And we've had a salad luncheon for the adults."

Meyer said that the library is an especially popular place for the middle school students of the area.

"They're starting to feel their independence," she said, "and there's not much else for them to do in Pomeroy."

Meyer said the students enjoy both the computers and the board games available at the library, and their parents are comfortable having them meet there.

Rachel Cox, a Pomeroy-Palmer school district fifth-grader, was at the library to get a book.

"She reads so quickly," said her mother, Emily Cox. "It's nice she can constantly get books."

Emily Cox said that the librarians can get the next book in a series that her daughter was reading.

"We do inter-library loan," Meyer said, "and we can have books in a few days."

Holly Klinzman, who has retired to the area and had only lived in Pomeroy for a week and a half, had come in to the library to read the newspaper.

"I would never have moved to a town that didn't have a library," Klinzman said.

Meyer said that the library staff together with the library board of trustees has challenges ahead of them, however.

She said that the city of Pomeroy has cut the library budget this year.

"So we're facing tough choices about what we cut," she said. "It's a balancing act."

Meyer said she will be working with the board to determine what fundraisers they might do to in order to maintain the many services and resources the Pomeroy Public Library provides to the community.

Contact Jo Vetter at (515) 573-2141 or editor@messengernews.net