Jasper Library Director: Right where she belongs

The weekend after 8-year-old Christine Sigler moved to Seventh Street in Jasper from Chrisney, her mother, Teresa, brought her to the Jasper Public Library.

That day, Elaine Streicher handed Christine her first Jasper Public Library Card. Elaine still works at the library but these days, Christine, 35 and married to Justin Golden, is the library director.

“My mom loves to tell that story,” Christine laughed.

Elaine doesn’t remember that moment but who can blame her? How many thousands of library cards has she issued or renewed since 1989? But for Christine, it began her relationship with the Jasper Public Library. It fed her appetite for reading, and she visited regularly until a move put her relationship with the library on hold.

She transferred to Forest Park when her stepdad moved the family for his new job as caretaker at the Dubois County Park. She graduated and headed to the University of Evansville to pursue a teaching degree.

Then, in 2001, at 19, she ended up back at the Jasper Public Library when she applied for a job at the library. “Yeah, I applied for the job at my mom’s suggestion, a job I never imagined I would want to do,” she said.

The rest fell in line as these things do. There weren’t many teaching jobs available when she finished college. She had a teaching certificate, but she continued to work full-time at the library as the assistant children’s librarian. Within about six months, she quit applying for teaching jobs because she knew she was doing what she loved.

In 2008, she decided to pursue a Master’s in Library Science. The whimsical decision to work part-time at the library had created a love for helping people. “For me, that is the best part; you get to help people,” Christine said. “You don’t know if it is going to be something really simple or really complicated.”

Plus, unlike many young adults, Christine never wanted to leave Dubois County. This was home, and for the then-24-year-old, the library was where she wanted to work. “I had decided to pursue it as a career, and when I did, I had one thought in mind, to take Rita’s (Douthitt, the former director) place when she retired,” Christine said.

In October of 2014, soon after Douthitt announced her retirement, the library board approved hiring Christine, then a 14-year library veteran serving as the branch director, as the new director of all the libraries managed by the Jasper Contractual Library system — Dubois, Birdseye and Ferdinand.

It wasn’t an easy moment for Christine, she and Justin had just had their first child, Cooper Maddox (more on that name in a moment). Plus, the referendum to build a new library on South Newton had been soundly defeated.

“I told the board if they hired me, my top goal was to get Jasper a new library,” she said.

The seemingly Sisyphean task of building a new library was daunting, but with certain opportunities arising in a location as well as a partnership with the city, success seemed to become more of a reality than ever before. Donors stepped up, while local companies provided tremendous support in spreading information to help voters understand the issues and future plans.

With 60 percent of the voters approving, Christine, the library board, staff and volunteers succeeded. The new library is on its way after two years of planning and strategizing. There is still a lot of work to be done as they begin to coordinate with the financial advisors and meet with bond counsel, as well as the designers, to get things moving on the new building at the corner of Mill Street and Third Avenue.

But Christine is able to spend a bit more time with her library family instead of in the whirlwind of activity and phone call questions explaining the referendum. In a couple of years, her new office in the new library will place her back in the midst of all that she has fallen love with; all of her passion.

“Not a lot people are lucky to find the place they are meant to be when they are 19,” Christine said. “It’s not the most illustrious position. You’re not going to get rich by working at the library, but it doesn’t matter to me at all because this is what I love to do.”

Q&A:

What’s a recent book you have read?
I’m a huge IU fan. I just finished Kirk Haston’s Days of Knight: How the General Changed My Life.

Electronic or print?
For me, it is print. I am on my iPad all the time, but when it comes down to reading a book, I definitely print.

What makes you feel old?
I spent eight years as a children’s librarian so seeing the kids grow up. In fact, I was interviewed during the referendum process by a student from Jasper High School for the Wildcat Weekly, and I was thinking, “Oh my gosh, I have known this kid since she was three years old and she was coming into the library.”

What makes you sad?
When I read the obituaries and see patrons that I have helped throughout the years. I love the obituaries that say “was an avid reader,” because I can say, “Yep, they sure were because they walked out of here with ten books every week.”

Tell me something interesting about you?
Justin and I have watched a game at all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums. In September, we finished the final three. We went to Fenway in Boston and then to Yankee Stadium. Then we went to Cooperstown (Baseball Hall of Fame), which is a horrible drive by the way. We finished at Citi Field with the Mets.
It’s been fun, and you know, these are places we visited that we probably would have never gone. I had no reason in my life to go to Phoenix, and I’ll probably never go to Phoenix again. But it was something that for the first ten years of our marriage, people would ask, “Where you at; how many you got; which one’s you hitting this year?”
To be able to say, we have seen a game in every stadium is kinda cool for me.
We are done now, but next year a new one opens in Atlanta. I have a sister there, so we will go down and stay with her when we see a game.

What’s your team?
Justin is a diehard Reds fan, and I grew up a diehard Cubs fan until I realized that every night, a Reds game was on TV. Then, a few years after we were married, we went to a Reds-Cubs game and I was accidentally cheering for the Reds because I knew them better. So, I am a Reds fan. I was happy for the Cubs this year, but I wasn’t going to be one of those bandwagoners that jumped back on this year. My allegiance is with the Reds.

Okay, your 2-year-old son, Cooper Maddox, it’s about baseball right?
No. Actually no. It’s funny because the year he was born, Greg Maddux (Mad Dog or The Professor) was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown. Maybe subconsciously, but actually, we went through a list of names and we both had Cooper and Carter. We went with Cooper, and I never thought of it until my cousin said, “Oh, like Cooperstown.” I was like, “Oh, dear God, people are going to think that.”
Maddox has nothing to do with Greg Maddux either although he was one of my favorite players.
Cooper is an avid baseball player much to the delight of his dad. But he calls it Bruce because we went to a Reds game in May and he heard all the fans yelling, “Bruce!” for Jay Bruce. So, to this day, if he wants to play baseball, it’s Bruce.

How did you meet your husband?
I had just graduated from high school, and I was supposed to go on a date with his roommate. Instead, I never went on the date and spent all night talking to Justin. The rest is history.

The couple lives in Holland with Cooper and their golden retriever, Gracie.