See how one Baton Rouge library employee has inspired kids for nearly two decades

Andrew Epperson
·2 min read

BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Libraries are a staple in their communities. One children’s librarian in Baton Rouge has been making kids’ summers special for nearly two decades.

Tara Dearing started working at the East Baton Rouge Parish’s Goodwood Library in 2006. She worked her way up to being a children’s services coordinator, where she works to develop programs, alongside other important tasks, like partnering with schools.

Dearing said there are hundreds of summer programs for kids who are out of school.

“It’s rewarding to help families and to help them in their future,” Dearing said.

In nearly two decades of service, Dearing said kids have changed. Formerly rudimentary arts and crafts have morphed into STEM-centered activities to keep up with generational shifts.

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Still, Dearing said she’s able to help kids develop a love for reading, despite being a self-described late bloomer when it comes to books.

“It’s not that they don’t like to read,” Dearing said. “It’s that they haven’t found what they like to read yet.”

Over the past several years, political culture wars have put libraries in the crosshairs. Thousands of librarians have quit since 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In Louisiana, new laws required an upgraded card system for kids and teens.

“A tween card would not be able to just be given access to adult material. The way that our cardholder policy is currently written, a teenager or tween is not eligible for an adult library card,” Kristen Edson, EBR deputy library director, said in August 2023.

Dearing said she loves what she does and will continue to do it. She said she is passionate by the impact she makes on kids.

She relayed several personal stories of people whose lives were changed.

“I had a 10-year-old who was in one of my first programs when I first started in 2006 and she eventually became one of our library techs,” Dearing said.

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Dearing said people often do not realize the number of resources the library has for people of all ages.

“They’re like, ‘I didn’t know you had so much available, and it’s all free with your library card,'” Dearing said.

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