“I know I’ll find a copy,” Amy Barritt says. “Someone has one.” She is talking about a book called “The History of Buckley,” a little town south of Traverse City. Why does she care? Because Amy has a passion for research and because she’s the Special Collections Librarian at Traverse Area District Library. “It’s my personal mission to build our local history program,” she says.
Growing up in Kingsley, another little town south of Traverse City, Amy counts as one of her successes finding the records of the Kingsley Farmers’ Coop. “The building is still there,” she says, “It’s a slice of regional history.”
“Research requires a certain skill set,” Amy says, and lists “tenacity” first. “It’s the thrill of the hunt and the rush when you find what you’re looking for.” She also helps other people find what they’re looking for when she staffs the Reference Desk. “The questions are seasonal,” she says. “Like gardening in the spring, canning in the fall. We’re a how-to culture and we like to do it ourselves.”
“I want people to have access to information in whatever way fits for them,” Amy says, “whether it’s at home, standing in the grocery line, or here at the library.”