A former on-call librarian in New West has now taken the helm of the New Westminster Public Library.
The New Westminster Public Library has announced Carolyn Caseñas has been selected as its new chief librarian. Her first day in her new role was on Feb. 12.
“I am honoured to be joining New Westminster Public Library as the new chief librarian,” she said in a news release. “I look forward to working with the board and staff to advance the organization’s vision, programs, and services to enable our members to best serve their communities.”
According to the NWPL, Caseñas was selected for the role after a comprehensive search process in collaboration with the search committee, Harbour West Consulting, and with the approval of the library’s board of trustees.
“New Westminster Public Library is thrilled to announce its new chief librarian. Carolyn Caseñas is an established and trusted leader committed to advancing the capacity of member libraries,” library board chair Elaine Su said in the news release. “Carolyn brings knowledge and experience in non‐profit board governance, program development, and team leadership. Carolyn comes to the role with member-service lens and deep understanding of the public library sector. We look forward to working with Carolyn.”
Caseñas was most recently the assistant head of Simon Fraser University’s Fraser Library. Prior to joining the Simon Fraser University Library, she worked as an on‐call librarian, information services librarian and teen services librarian at Surrey libraries.
Before working as an on-call librarian in Surrey, Caseñas briefly worked as an on-call librarian in New Westminster. In 2010, she joined another NWPL librarian in hosting a workshop on a workshop on journalling or blogging at the Royal City Book Festival.
Caseñas has a master of archival studies and master of library and information studies from the University of British Columbia, as well as her bachelor of arts with a major in linguistics and extended minor in French from Simon Fraser University.
The search for a new chief librarian followed the departure of Jorge Cardenas in June 2023, after he moved on to a job at Simon Fraser University’s Samuel and Frances Belzberg Library at the university’s Vancouver campus.
Cardenas had joined the City of New Westminster as its chief library in October 2021, following the August 2021 retirement of Julie Spurrell, who had served as the city’s chief librarian for 17 years.
