For Alexandra Pratt, the new director of the West Tisbury Free Public Library, the spark for her career was the simple act of being taken to the library regularly by her mother during her childhood in rural, northwestern Connecticut. Now that her dream has come to fruition on the Vineyard, she is amazed that this one Island has six incredible libraries – and grateful she has worked at five of them.
Q. How did you originally fall in love with libraries?
A. Every Sunday, growing up, my mother took us to the local library and I’d check out a huge stack of books. It’s always been a safe place for me, and a place I really loved. In college at Smith, I studied English and history, thinking I’d become an archivist, preserving historic books and documents. But I discovered being in the archives is lonely work, and I soon realized I wanted to work around people.