Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Katrina Linde-Moriarty, the new director of the Portage Lake District Library, stands outside the library Tuesday.

HOUGHTON — As a 12-year-old library patron, Katrina Linde-Moriarty had a realization that would shape the rest of their life: Librarians probably get to read books all day, and that sounds fun.

“I went up to my librarian, and I’m like “How do I become a librarian?'” they said. “Thankfully, they took my question seriously, explained, and that’s the path I took.”

As it turns out, there’s more to the job than reading books all day. But learning more about the job didn’t dull Linde-Moriarty’s love for it. They’ve pursued library studies ever since, leading them to the Portage Lake District library, where they started as director Monday.

Linde-Moriarty came to Houghton after holding the same position at Monticello Public Library, a small public library near Madison, Wisconsin. After three-and-a-half years there, they felt they had done what they could. While looking for other opportunities, Linde-Moriarty got an email about the Houghton job.

As Linde-Moriarty started researching, their fascination with the area grew. They have always lived in a college town. They love the outdoors, having solo-backpacked across the Upper Peninsula this summer. Also, they’re “a pretty big nerd.”

“The fact that you have toy stores in board game stores and comic book stores is right up my alley,” Linde-Moriarty said. “It just seems like it’s this little gem up here in the north.”

After their initial inspiration, Linde-Moriarty learned more about the job when the new teen librarian at their hometown library in Springfield, Oregon invited them to be on the library’s youth advisory board.

“I’m glad she did, because that kind of let me have a taste, to kind of go look behind the curtain and actually see, how do programs get started from an idea to execution? How are our materials developed over time?” they said.

Linde-Moriarty received an associate of arts degree and transferred to the University of Oregon, where they got a double bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology and history. While trying to land a work study position in the main library, they wound up in the archives. Seeing how the non-book inventories were archived and inventoried, paired with their history degree, helped Linde-Moriarty appreciate the importance of first-hand documents and how to categorize them.

“A lot of people are used to either Dewey Decimal System or the Library of Congress, and a lot of archival collections are created from the ground up through the library,” they said. “So it’s just super-fascinating.”

While Linde-Moriarty’s colleagues at the archives couldn’t convince them to pursue a life in the archives, three of the staff members persuaded Linde-Moriarty to attend their alma-mater, University of Wisconsin-Madison, where Linde-Moriarty got a master’s degree in library and Information studies.

Linde-Moriarty spent eight years in Wisconsin, including six as a professional librarian, before coming to Houghton.

Linde-Moriarty’s immediate goal is to be a team player with the rest of the staff and working closely with the board and the Friends of the Library.

“My vision, especially in the first handful of months, is to keep my eyes and ears open, and kind of get the tenor and the track of the community before I throw any crazy ideas out there,” they said.

They’ll be working with the board and staff on the library’s redesign, which is already in the planning stages. And on their second day, Linde-Moriarty is already poring over the next budget to ensure there’s money for future projects.

“We’re always looking for different ways to be out and about in the community,” they said. “And we’ve already been talking about summer programming. With the construction of the pier out front, we’re looking at location options, both inside the building and slightly offsite, maybe further down the Portage (Canal). So that’s going to be exciting.”

Linde-Moriarty said their door is always open to the public.

“I’d love to get out into the community and I welcome being invited to meetings or any functions that they’d like to have me at,” they said.