Photo by Erin Nelson.
Judith Wright, the new director of the Homewood Public Library, stands in the library in front of the library’s new digital board.
Her mom takes the credit, but Judith Wright has always loved the idea of working with books.
She grew up loving the TV show “Reading Rainbow,” and she always found herself volunteering in school libraries when she was small, she said.
After working at the Homewood Public Library for several years, Wright has been selected as the library’s new director after the beloved former director, Debbie Fout, retired from the position this year.
Wright said despite Fout’s many years of service as the library’s director, she doesn’t feel any pressure stepping into her shoes because she spent so much time working with Fout and learning from her.
“Debbie is wonderful,” Wright said. “She’s like my library mom. … She prepared me in the fact that everything she did, she showed me, she taught me and she mentored me so there’s no pressure because I also know I can pick up the phone and call her.”
When she was promoted to assistant director in October 2019, Wright said, she was given the opportunity to learn about library administration and still work as a librarian in the teen department.
“I held those dual roles for two years,” Wright said. “That allowed me to go back to administration and see behind the scenes, because administration is totally different from working the front desk or doing programs. I tell people all the time, I really don’t get to do much with literacy like books and things but I can make sure my staff has the resources and the funding and the things they need to do those things for the community.”
Wright said Homewood Public Library is unique because of the way the community treats it.
“This community really values their public library,” Wright said. “You see libraries that are loved and utilized but this library is beloved in this community. People are very passionate about it and they’re passionate about our staff, they get to know them.”
Wright started part time in the children’s department in 2010 and then started working at the Hoover Public Library shortly after, she said.
She returned to the Homewood library full-time working behind the circulation desk in 2011 then left again to become a reference librarian in Alabaster, before returning to Homewood in 2014.
After she came back to the library, she said, she swore she wouldn’t leave again.
“I love the other places I’ve worked, they taught me a lot, but this is a wonderful place to work,” Wright said. “The goal was always to make it back here, but I wanted to gain more experience and learn how other libraries operate.”
Wright didn’t immediately go to library school when she graduated high school, she said, but something led her back to books.
“My mom one day was like, ‘You got to go grad school. You’re about to graduate from UAB with a degree in art history, what are you going to do after?’” Wright said. “I said ‘I don’t know.’ She said ‘Well, I think you should go to library school.’”
Wright said she loves public libraries specifically because she loves helping and working with people and every day on the job is fun.
Despite being the busiest library in the state for its size, including events and the amount of people using the library’s spaces, she loves serving the community with her staff, she said.
“It’s absolutely fun,” Wright said. “When you work with a fantastic group of people who are all driven by the same goal of promoting the library within the community and serving the community, you don’t wake up dreading work. You wake up excited to see what your team has come up with and how they want to change how you serve.”
