Ella Cademartori, previously director of children’s programming at Stephenson Memorial Library in Greenfield, is the library’s new director, having been named to the position under difficult circumstances.

Cademartori began in the new role Feb. 13 after the death of previous Library Director David Bridgewater. Bridgewater died after a period of illness Feb. 11, at the age of 80, and he performed his duties for the library almost until his death. 

“It’s definitely bittersweet,” Cademartori said. “Being a library director is something I have been working toward, and it has been my goal, but it happened in very sad circumstances. David was a wonderful man and a dedicated member of our community, and he will be greatly missed.”

Cademartori, who holds a MEd in library media studies from Plymouth State University, has been on the staff at Stephenson Library since 2022. A native of Bellows Falls, Vt., Cademartori lives in Antim with her husband and three young children. 

An avid reader, Cademartori enjoys nonfiction, fantasy, graphic novels, and manga, although she says that since her son Julius arrived and she became a full-time director, her personal reading time has been cut back. Right now she’s reading “Mockingbird Summer,” an young adult novel about a racially segregated town in Texas in 1964. Cademartori says current trends in books include fantasy, graphic novels and contemporary romance.

“Romance is very popular,  and there are some really great books. It’s not like you think of romance, the old-time books with the pirates on the cover,” she said. “Fantasy is just exploding now. There are also fantasy-romance hybrids.” 

While books are still essential to the library’s purpose, Cademartori notes that the library’s mission is to be “the cultural center of the community.”

“Our goal is to provide equitable access to all materials  and resources for all patrons,” she said. 

From 2022 to the past fall, Cademartori and Bridgewater put significant effort into reaching out to Greenfield’s teenagers and identifying programs and activities that might appeal to middle- and high-schoolers.

“What we found out was there aren’t lot of teenagers around,” Cademartori said with a laugh. “The ones who are here in town have sports or other activities after school and evenings or they work. They’re really busy. So we’re looking at the demographics of the town, and we’re finding there are a lot of young families with little kids, and there are a lot of older people, so that is what we will be focusing on with programming.”

Cademartori’s goals for the future include partnering with Greenfield Elementary School, which is a short walk away, as well as daytime events for older people, including board games and puzzle tournaments. 

“Board games and puzzles are definitely a trend in libraries, especially larger ones,” Cademartori said, noting that the Milford library has a popular puzzle tournament. 

Cademartori and her staff have been working to create a full schedule of events for spring and summer.

On Thursday, April 4, at 7 p.m. in the Wensberg Room, the library will host “Covered Bridges of New Hampshire” with Kim Varney Chandler. On April 6, the children’s department will have an Easter egg hunt and story time at 10 a.m.

The adult Tri-Town Book Club, in conjunction with Bixby Memorial Library in Francestown and GEP Dodge Library in Bennington, meets Thursday, April 18, at 6:30 p.m. at Bixby to discuss “The Giver of Stars” by Jojo Moyes, and the new Family Chapter Book Club meets Saturday, April 20, at 11 a.m. to talk about “The Trumpet of the Swan” by E.B. White. 

On April 20, the library will launch a caregiver-child sewing class, with a limit of 10 participants. Another new program Cademartori hopes to host this summer is a “Safe at Home” class for children in fourth through sixth  grade, which is designed to teach children ages 9 to 13 how to stay safe when they are home without a caregiver. The class, offered by SafeSitter, also helps prepare children for  taking on babysitting responsibilities as they get older. 

Regular library events include the Mahjongg Club, Quilter’s Guild, STEM Day with Brighid Wood, Cribbage, Watercolor Collaborative, line dancing, crafters, homeschool and baby groups and Greenfield Commons outreach. 

For a complete listing of events, go to greenfield-nh.gov/stephenson-memorial-library.