For Ashley Molzen, helping the community has been a long pursuit. Growing up in northwest Iowa, she first started working with young English language learners as part of a high school course, rotating among different professions to learn more about those careers.
Molzen, however, made her mind up instantly.
“I fell in love with the elementary students I worked with through that class,” Molzen says. “I begged to stay on for the entire semester.”
That passion and commitment continues as she recently began a new role at the Des Moines Public Library: Community Engagement Supervisor. In this position, Molzen will lead the library’s programming teams and help develop partnerships and outreach opportunities within the community.
“Anyone who’s spent time with me knows that I tend to be on the excitable side of the spectrum,” says Molzen. “I am very enthusiastic about working with community partners who connect information to residents in Des Moines. I believe the magic of the library is that we have the honor and responsibility of serving the information needs of the community.”
Molzen wants to continue serving areas in which the library fills crucial needs, such as public internet access, printing services, the library’s digital collections and databases, and of course, access to books. She looks forward to working with partners in providing accurate and helpful information in areas such as early literacy, language skills, career readiness, STEM, health, and financial literacy.
Molzen’s career at the Des Moines Public Library began 13 years ago. After teaching Spanish and supervising an after-school community program, she was looking for something that promoted work-life balance as a new parent.
“Librarianship was the right mash-up of education, community, and opportunity for growth and stability that allowed me to raise a young family,” she says.
An example of Molzen’s approach of finding creative ways to bridge information gaps comes from the “Conversations and Coffee” program she started at the Forest Avenue Library. The program, which connects volunteers with adults that are learning English, is structured in a way that friendships develop, allowing for meaningful conversations that were also useful for language learning. In recent years, she held managerial roles at the Franklin Avenue Library and the East Side Library.
She says her new position finds her falling in love with the library all over again.
“I get to take the best parts of my career, the connecting with people and organizations, out into the community to elevate and amplify the library’s mission,” she says. “For me, our success is creating a library system that truly supports the learning and growth of each person living in our city.”
She hopes to help the community see the potential that she sees when she walks through the library’s doors. “We are the people’s university. We are a flagship of possibility and potential for all.”
If you would like to contact Ashley Molzen about program ideas or partnership opportunities, please call (515) 283-4155 or email her at ARMolzen@dmpl.org.
What Ashley is reading right now:
Last Modified April 30, 2024
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