Nadine Cousineau is a long-time fixture at the Fort Frances Public Library Technology Centre (FFPLTC), having started on a casual basis in 2014, before starting full-time in 2016, and now becoming the new CEO in June.
Cousineau was living in British Columbia when she was first bitten by the library bug.
“I was living out west in a town called Nelson, B.C., when I got my first library job, a part-time job at the public library there,” Cousineau said.
“I was 24 at the time and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do yet, but one thing I knew was that I really enjoyed my job at the public library. About two years later I moved back to Fort Frances and I signed up for my library technician diploma online, then shortly after the library in Fort Frances happened to be advertising for casual workers. So the timing worked out really well. So I took my library technician diploma about the same time I started working at the library and I did it as I worked.”
Over the last several years, Cousineau has served as interim CEO on three occasions, so when she was told the position would become permanent this time following the exit of previous CEO Richard Bee, she says it felt a bit odd at first.
“It took a while to actually sink in that the job was permanent,” she said.
“I’ve had a lot of great mentors leading up to this point and I have a lot of support from the community, the board, the staff and the patrons, so I’m feeling really positive about it.”
Going forward, the new CEO is hoping to bring some consistency to the library, which has seen some turnover, having had a few changes in leadership and staffing over the last few years.
“So first and foremost, I’m just really hopeful to offer some stability for everybody, for the staff, the board, the community,” she said.
“The library is always changing, the collections are always changing. Things are always evolving. So going forward, I want this to be a place where everybody in the community can come here and find something for themselves, whether it be books, programming, technology. I want anybody in the community to be able to walk through the front door and there’s something here for them.”
The library has recently been in a funding crunch with a lack of evolving funding from the provincial government and a tightening budget, but Cousineau is hopeful she can help the library be efficient and advocate for better funding.
“I’ve always tried to be a really efficient person in my life and in my work,” she said.
“So going forward, we’re just going to advocate for the library and continue to advocate for libraries across the province and just make this place the best we can with what we’ve got.”
When not at the library Cousineau enjoys spending time with her husband and two kids as well as their golden retriever Dolly.
“We like to go to our cabin on Rainy Lake, we like to go for bike rides, we really enjoy gardening, reading, just spending time with my family,” she said.
Cousineau says the response to her appointment to the role of CEO has been resoundingly positive and she’s thankful for the community support.
“I just really want to stress how grateful I am to the community for the support I’ve received,” she said.
“It’s been more than I ever could have imagined and it’s just really given me the confidence I need to do this job.”
Cousineau says she really wants to see the FFPLTC flourish and be a hub for everyone in the community.
“I really care about the library and I’m really invested in this library, so I’d like this to be a really long term position for me,” she said.
“I know that this library has so much potential and I’m excited to be the person to help the library realize it.”
