Lou Hunley started a career as a middle school teacher, but it didn’t take long before she realized the library was calling her back to the stacks.

“I felt like I really discovered what I loved to do. … I was always the child that was reading a book when I was supposed to be doing other stuff in school,” Hunley laughed.

Hunley brings more than two decades of experience in children’s library services to Washington in her new role as Youth Services coordinator at Beaufort-Hyde-Martin Regional Library. Relocating from Greenville, South Carolina, to Washington, Hunley started her new job last week. First on the list of things to do, however, is learning the community.

“It’s really important when you work in a library — you have to know what the people are like and what they like to read; what kind of programming they’d like to see,” Hunley said.

Hunley said she’s looking forward to partnering with those who organize children’s programming at BHM’s locations in Aurora, Bath, Belhaven, Engelhard, Ocracoke, Robersonville, Washington and Williamston.

“I’m really eager to talk to other children’s librarians because we tend to feed off each other and share ideas,” she said.

Summer programming will be another focus for her, as many children tend to fall into a “summer slide,” losing skills learned during the prior school year when those skills aren’t used during summer break.

“I’m really interested in anything we can do to draw people in with summer programming. Fun things. … We really want kids to want to read,” Hunley said.

Hunley said moving from the more urban areas of Greenville, S.C., and before that, Charlotte, has been a good transition.

“I felt very drawn to Washington,” Hunley said. “I enjoyed it, when I interviewed. I just felt like a kind of pull to come here and work in a more rural area.”