Mountain Road Library Welcomes New Branch Manager

Samantha Zline is the new branch manager of the Mountain Road Library. Zline began her new role on Monday, July 8, after former branch manager Jennifer Adams retired after 25 years at the library.

Zline comes to Mountain Road from the Severna Park Library, where she worked for more than nine years. The Voice spoke with Zline about her new position at Mountain Road and what she has planned for the future.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

How did you feel about the promotion to branch manager and also this library?

ZLINE: I was really excited. I was working at the Severna Park branch prior to this. I had been there for about nine-and-a-half years, so I was ready to take that next step. Mountain Road is everything that I like. I’m very big into programming, I’m very big into outreach and being involved in the community, so this is a perfect place for me to start out as manager. They’re already doing a lot of that here, so I’m excited to be part of that and do a little more being in the manager position and supporting them as they go out and do things. 

What are some of the things that you’re bringing with you from Severna Park to Mountain Road?

ZLINE: Physically, I’ve got boxes of Harry Potter decorations, so hopefully we’ll do another Harry Potter program. I know earlier this year they did the Harry Potter Escape Room here, and it was a big hit. 

A lot of enthusiasm. The staff here is already fantastic. I worked with a lot of them over the past 10 years in different capacities, so I was already familiar with a lot of people here. It’s great to be coming to a group that’s just as enthusiastic as I am about making connections in the community. Hopefully I’m bringing more support and enthusiasm to help them get out there and get things done.

Maybe this is something you’re still getting familiar with, but how is this community that you’re serving different from Severna Park?

ZLINE: Definitely something I’m still learning. This is a community branch, so it’s a much smaller branch. They’re still doing a lot of programming here, but since it’s a smaller staff, they can’t quite do as much, so I’ll be getting used to that. I think the community here is definitely going to have a lot of similar interests. Everybody wants to have things that their kids can come to, family events. 

It’s different in that it’s a little bit smaller, a little bit quieter, a little bit more lowkey community. This stretch of Mountain Road is where people live, as opposed to the bustle of Route 2 across from a giant shopping center. People at this branch will be people who live here as opposed to a crossroads branch where it’s people who are traveling back and forth to work. I think I’ll probably get to know a lot more of our patrons here than I got to know at Severna Park just because I’ll see them more often than I did when I was there.

Do you have any exciting plans for Mountain Road that you can share yet?

ZLINE: They’ve already got a lot of fun stuff that they do on the regular, so I want to see what they do and how they do it. I’m learning about all the different things they do here that’s unique to Mountain Road. I’m really excited to learn about those, and then hopefully I can throw in my two cents and we can try some fun stuff. They’re already doing so many great things. 

Is there something that Mountain Road’s doing that you’re especially excited about?

ZLINE: I love that they’ve got the movie programs that they’re doing that ranged from everything from kids movies to documentaries. They’re trying out different things that way, and I think that’s really, really interesting. Something different to bring to the community. It’s cool that we have that and groups can come in. They just did the movie this morning, and I was really impressed by how many people showed up to watch “WALL-E” and sit around together. That’s really nice to see.

Whether it’s programs, initiatives or goals that you have, what do you see for the future at Mountain Road, especially in relation to the 25th anniversary?

ZLINE: I think the biggest thing for libraries in general right now is making sure we’re involved with the community. I’m hoping that we can focus on getting out there, getting our faces out there. They’re already doing a lot of outreach to the local preschools, and they participate in the local Downs Park Festival, so looking at other places we can go to be part of community events or activities or ways that we can partner with the community and make that connection stronger.

Those are all of my questions unless you think there’s anything else that I should know.

ZLINE: This is my second day here, so I’m very much in the learning mode now finding out about the branch, the community and how everything works. I’m really excited to be here and see what kind of new things me and the staff can put together.