For Bethel librarian Theresa Quiner, books have been a lifelong pursuit.
“Probably a lot of librarians would say this, but it started because I really love to read,” Quiner said during an interview with KYUK’s MaryCait Dolan during morning show "Coffee at KYUK" on Jan. 6. “When I was a kid, you could hardly get me out of the house because I always had my nose in a book."
For the record, Quiner said that she's currently reading Louise Penny's new book, "The Grey Wolf."
Quiner has been working at the Kuskokwim Consortium Library since 2015. Within eight months of moving to Bethel and starting work at the library, Quiner became the director.
“I really love serving this community,” Quiner said. “I feel like I get to see people from all across the community every single day when I'm at work, and it feels like a big family. Something that has just made Bethel become home for me is the strong community ties that everybody has with each other.”
Quiner was selected from more than 1,300 nominees for the the American Library Association’s 2025 "I Love My Librarian" award – a community-nominated recognition of expertise, dedication and impact on the people of a community.
Quiner said that she has been hearing about the award for years. She was shocked and honored to find out she’d be getting one.
“I got to see the testimonials that people wrote to nominate me and it made me cry,” Quiner said. “It was very, very exciting to hear.”
The nomination came from inside her staff – Youth Services Coordinator Mikayka Miller started the campaign to collect community testimonials in support of Quiner’s award.
Quiner said that running a library in a remote part of Alaska can be a challenge. Off of the United States road system and only accessible by plane, boat, or snowmachine, Bethel’s library faces unique logistical challenges to providing services to the community. She said that the Kuskokwim Consortium Library tries to provide all the services that larger libraries do, but with fewer people and resources. Bethel’s library has just three full-time staff members.
“There's just so many needs that the community has that aren't being filled, and so we're just always trying to find creative ways to help people accomplish their goals or find the information they need, or connect them to resources that can help them,” Quiner said.
The library hosts arts workshops, community events, and runs a checkout system for household items that help with subsistence food preservation, like a vacuum sealer and pressure cookers. And the library’s impact extends far beyond the books and kitchen tools it loans out.
“We're a third space where people can get out of their house in the winter and go without spending money. Just to congregate as a community, attend a workshop or a program and be with other people,” Quiner said. “There's not a lot of spaces like that in the community. There's churches, and the fitness center requires money to go there, so I think that's just a really important part of what we provide to the community.”
While Quiner is an award-winning librarian, the Kuskokwim Consortium Library itself is an award-winning library. In 2023, it received the nation’s highest honor awarded to museums and libraries – the National Medal for Museum and Library Service.
With the "I Love My Librarian" award, Quiner wins $5,000. She’ll be formally recognized, along with the nine other award recipients, at the American Library Association’s LibLearnX event in Phoenix, Arizona in late January.
MaryCait Dolan contributed to this reporting.
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