If you’re not sure what to read, you can be sure Kim Spicer will help you figure it out.
Spicer is a library specialist at the Jacksonville Public Library, where she’s worked for the city going on three years. Her role, like most positions at a public library, encompasses a varied range of tasks; some obvious inclusions, like writing the library newsletter and setting out the weekly New York Times bestsellers, are mixed with “I didn’t know librarians did that” efforts like helping the public notarize and fax documents, apply for jobs and even make phone calls.
But the task she loves the most — and it’s obvious after only a few minutes with Spicer that she loves them all — is helping visitors find their new favorite books.
“The best part of my job is making book recommendations. I pick their brain first and check what they’re comfortable with,” Spicer explained. She’s a serious fan of the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series — a well-loved but notoriously dark series of fantasy novels on which the TV show “Game of Thrones” is based — but she can find the best books for lighthearted readers, too. “I start broad and narrow it down. So far, I’ve never had anyone not like what I recommend.”
Spicer is a Jacksonville native, a graduate of Kitty Stone and Jacksonville High School. She went to Washington state to attend Gonzaga University, but she realized that she loved her small town during the time away and moved back soon after, and graduated from Jacksonville State University. She lives in Jacksonville with her husband, David, and her daughter, Dixie, is just down the highway in Anniston.
Spicer has a clear passion for serving her home community. She beams when she talks about library patrons, and said she’s never had a bad experience with a visitor in her time working at the library.
“I love these people,” Spicer said. “And once you give a moment of time to listen, it’s amazing what you’ll find out.”
