Matt Lococo: Meet Me Greene County, Rose Burton
Snow Hill - Neuse News is beginning a series to introduce Greene County readers to some of the influential, interesting, and decision-making leaders of our community. “Meet Me Greene County” column is a look into what makes Greene County the special place it is to live, work and play.
Rose Burton. Photo: Neuse Regional Library.
Our first interview was with Rose Burton, the Branch Manager for the Greene County Public Library. I sat downed with Burton and talk about her role, her background, and how her role affects Greene County.
Burton has been part of the Neuse Regional Library System for the past 12 years. She started out as a Library Assistant serving throughout the system (Greene-Lenoir-Jones Counties).
She said, “I found the ad in the paper and I love serving people, so it seemed like a good fit.”
Following her initial start as an assistant, she moved into helping with different programs throughout the library.
She said, “I enjoyed helping with the Children’s program and learned to love working with the learning programs we offer.”
Following that move, she became the branch manager of the LaGrange Public Library in LaGrange. She received a better understanding of the ins and outs of running a library as the manager in Lagrange. In September 2022, she was asked to replace the retiring manager of the Greene County Library and became the new branch manager here.
She shared with me that, “The library offers 2-5 different types of programs each month.”
The adult programs take place in the newly renovated part of the library, which has glass ceilings and large windows. The library’s biggest focus as of late has been to boost its children and teens programs.
“We offer things like story time for our infants and preschoolers and Stemology and homework help for elementary to high school students.” Burton said. “The Library strives to serve people with the needs they have and help to enrich our community. We also offer crafting programs, a movie night, special speakers about our history, and musical guests. We work hard to have programs that interest a large segment of our community.”
The most important aspect of the library and her role in the community is to serving other people.
Burton, who has children in the Greene County School System, shared that she sees the biggest challenges in Greene County to be communication. “All the different groups and agencies in the community are trying to work to build that effort, but with a rural county often our largest challenge is getting the word out about something that’s going on here.”
I asked Rose to leave our readers with a message or words of wisdom “The Library is more than books, it’s a place to learn, meet, and engage with other people from our community and from all walks of life.”
Visit the Greene County Public Library and say hi to Rose. Tell her Neuse News Sent you!
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