Literacy and the Status of the Downtown Library

Born and raised in Des Moines, Sue Woody is the new Director of the Des Moines Public Library.  

She’s been the Director since just mid-July of this year, but she’s been with the library for 14 years.  Her previous position was Community Engagement Librarian for the DMPL. Her job was to find authors to come to Des Moines for the annual Authors Visiting in Des Moines, (AViD) series.  She also ran the marketing and publicity for the library as well as the library’s outreach efforts.  One of the favorite parts of her job (then and even more – now) is going out to groups just like this one to talk about all that the library has to offer!

Before her time in Community Engagement, she managed the Southside and the Forest Avenue library branches for three years.  She also spent many years at the library running the Rosie outreach program and doing storytelling for the library.

Before becoming a Librarian, she owned and operated the independent children’s bookstore calledThe Alligator’s Tale.

Just how does Sue get all these fun jobs?  It all starts with a passion for books.