Knepper Reads Final Stories After 20 Years as Children’s Librarian

April 2, 2025

On March 27^th, children’s librarian Pixie Knepper read her last preschool story time. On March 31^st, she worked her last day since January of 2005.

After raising her three boys, she began helping her husband in his former business, Printz TV, in the mid 1990s. Then when their youngest left for college, she said it was time to fill her time with something different, and more time-consuming.

“I always thought it would be fun to work in a library,” she said. “I had no training but I thought it was the right time in my life and here’s my chance. And I guess it was just meant to be.”

Knepper said she always liked kids, reading to them, and implementing crafts and activities. It was other aspects of the job that came with a higher learning curve. For instance, knowing what types of books to order or how to weed out older titles.

“Some months are more serious than others but I weed out books every month. I have a soft spot so it’s hard to get rid of them but we must or we’d have no room for new books.”

She remembered working with her first director, Kay Osthoff and being trained about new titles.

“The hardest part at the beginning was that I didn’t know what books they would like,” she said. “I thought, ‘What if I order a book that nobody every checks out?’” Though she doesn’t think that ever happened, over time she learned what was popular and what types of books kids would enjoy.

It even became her favorite part of the job.

“When someone asks for a book, they might not know the title so I ask for a few details and I felt like I knew exactly what they wanted and I’d get it,” she said. “It takes time but after 20 years you know where books live.”

She also got good at pinpointing readers’ particular tastes.

“I would get to know them and tell what type of book they would like.”

In fact, she began putting them on display. With full shelves, she noted it can be harder to look, so placing books on the top of shelves helped them catch readers’ attention.

“A game I like to play with myself: If a book hasn’t been checked out in a while, I put it on display and within two days or less, it’s gone,” she said. “I feel sorry for the books that haven’t been checked out in a long time.”

Knepper also enjoyed planning the Summer Reading programs – she still has all 20 of her summer reading t-shirts, which she hopes to have made into a quilt – and Thursday morning toddler story times, often with themes. Over the years she brought kids outside in nice weather and planned for bunnies or other baby animals to attend.

“Bringing in live animals is always a hit,” she said.

In 20 years she worked with seven directors and helped implement different programs, like Adopt-a-Book, and adding permanent features to the library, like a drawing/felt easel, wooden puzzles, a LEGO table, and Magna-Tiles. She also spearheaded the efforts for the bronze statue in front of the library, Story time. She approached the Friends of the Library, hoping to get it funded in five years. However, with the implementation of Match Day, she said it was doable in just three.

“It sits out in front and it will be there forever,” she said. “That’s one of the things I’m most proud of.”

Though she has no concrete plans into retirement, Knepper said she and her husband plan to spend more time outside and traveling, especially to visit two of their sons who live out of state.

However, she will miss the kids and seeing them grow up.

“I watch them evolve from being a toddler, to starting to read, to then getting a thicker book and a thicker book, and thicker until they age-out of the children’s department and go up to the young adult,” she said. “My favorite part is just watching how quickly they evolve.”

She reiterated this when looking over her past pictures of story time, toddler time, and other events throughout her tenure as librarian.

“I was looking around and said, ‘We’ve had a lot of fun in here.’”

20 Years of Summer Reading Programs:

2005: Dragson, Dreams & Daring Deeds

2006: Paws, Claws, Scales and Tales

2007: Get a Clue

2008: Catch the Reading Bug

2009: Be Creative @ Your Library; Express Yourself

2010: Make a Splash – Read!

2011: One World, Many Stories: You are Here!

2012: Dream Big READ! Own the Night

2013: Dig into Reading; Beneath the Surface