Familiar face for new position

For more than four years, Becky Iwen has worked in the Sweetwater County Library's Youth Services Department.

Now, she will take on a new role as she was recently named the library's new youth services manager.

Iwen has always had a love for the library, which started when she was a child.

"I've always had a real strong love of reading," she said. "Learning to read for me was really difficult. I was not a strong reader."

Learning how to read was a real struggle for Iwen.

Iwen, who was home schooled by her mother, said her mother would not give up and worked with Iwen until she could read well, which started to happen when she turned nine.

"No matter where we moved, because my dad was in the Air Force, there was always a public library," she said.

Iwen's mother worked hard and made sure that no matter which town they were in that Iwen got to the library.

Her love for the library continued to grow; and when she turned 15 she started her first library job at the Big Piney Library. She was hired as the part-time youth employee.

"I has always been a library patron and they knew me pretty well," Iwen said.

She worked for the Big Piney Library for three years. Some of her duties included shelving books and cleaning, Iwen said the duties were pretty basic as first, but she continued to work at the library. When she left, she had worked her way up to full-time assistant and was cataloging books.

"I did just about everything you could think of in a library," she said. "It was a pretty small library."

Her next stop was Western Wyoming Community College where she worked in the Hay Library while obtaining an associates degree.

She then moved to Glendive, Mont., where she worked at the Boys and Girls Club before an opening came up at the Glendive Library. At this point, Iwen and her husband were in the process of starting a family.

About eight years ago, they moved to Green River and Iwen had another child. About four-and-a-half years ago, a part-time youth services job opened up at the Sweetwater County Library. Since Iwen was a regular patron and had previous library experience, she was encouraged to apply for the job.

Iwen has seen libraries go through major changes, including the removal of the card catalog. She said she can remember typing up the card's information so it could be put into the digital catalog.

"I've really been able to see first hand the technological changes the library has been through," Iwen said.

As for changes to the youth services program, most of the programs Iwen has thought of have already been implemented. She would just like to expand on those programs. In the near future, the youth department may see some physical changes as new furniture and toys will arrive.

"Those are some exciting things that I think will be coming soon," she said.

Iwen said applying for and accepting the position was a hard decision to make since she has two elementary school-aged children, but she is excited about the work ahead of her and is glad she will continue working for a place that has always been so appealing to her.