By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
ssoldan@mihomepaper.com
Brandon — From the age of five, Fran Hotchkiss was drawn to the Brandon Township Public Library.
“I lived two doors down from the building where the library was then,” said Hotchkiss. “I was the middle of 11 kids, so if I went missing, they could find me at the library.”
On May 1, Hotchkiss will celebrate 50 paid years with the BTPL. But her work at the library was volunteer for years prior to that.
“When I was only five, they let me put away ten picture books a day and dust the shelves,” she said. “Mrs. Grovesteen was so kind and good to me.”
By age 11, Hotchkiss had memorized the Dewey Decimal system and the location of all of the books in the library, so the library director at the time, Mrs. Grovesteen, offered to pay her out of petty cash.
“She was very impressed,” said Hotchkiss. “That’s when she said ‘Frannie, would you like to work here, and I’ll pay you a dollar an hour?’ they let me work 10 hours a week, and that was a lot of money back then.”
When she was able to get her work permit in 1975, Hotchkiss was hired on full time starting May 1. She started as a shelver, and doing two story-times per week.
“October 1, 1979, I was hired full time,” she said. “I was head of the children’s department. Because I’d been working and volunteering for so long, they thought I had the skills and the knowledge to do that.”
She got her associates degree in mental health right out of high school with dreams of being a social worker, and did an internship in the field.
“I loved it, but I wanted to adopt all the children,” she said. “My supervisor said I would get burned out within a year.”
Hotchkiss continued on at the library, and as the population of Ortonville grew, she was told she needed to get her bachelors degree for the library to continue getting state aid, so she got her bachelors degree in applied sciences and early childhood education. Then, in 1996, the population grew more and she had to get her masters to continue as head of the children’s department, so she got her masters in library science.
“I kind of got my degree as I went along,” she said. “I love the wide assortment of things I get to do for the library. Sometimes you are a social worker, you’re a teacher, do this was just the perfect job. I get to use all the talents I enjoy.”
In 2016, the library director at the time, Rebecca Higgerson, approached Hotchkiss with a new position of Outreach Liaison Librarian. Through the new position, Hotchkiss was able to continue with her community outreach programs.
“For this March is Reading Month, I did 54 programs out in the community,” she said. “I keep very busy. I’m so thankful to the teachers that share the children with me. It gets the families in the library.”
Her favorite part of the job is getting to spend time with the children in the community. Some of her story-time attendees are third generation attendees to her story times.
“All of the beautiful children, the hugs, the ‘I love you Miss Fran’s, getting them excited about books, seeing their faces light up when they like a story I read,” she said. “One Friday a month, I do 10 story-times, I get like 250 hugs that day, it just gives me so much energy and fills my heart. I just feel very blessed and love what I do.”
Hotchkiss said she is so thankful to all of the families and library staff that have supported her in the past 50 years.
“I never take my job for granted,” she said. “I’m just so grateful to those patient librarians when I was just five years old. If it weren’t for Mrs. Metzger and Mrs. Grovesteen, I wouldn’t be here. That’s why I love letting students do volunteer work for me, if it means I can mentor someone. There are some students I had who have their library degrees now because I let them volunteer.”
And while she has been at the library 50 years, Hotchkiss isn’t slowing down.
“It’s not a retirement,” she said. “I want to at least work full time until January of 2028, and then if the library still likes the work I do, then I could drop down to part time.”
She also extended a thank you to all of the community members and staff who have allowed her to keep doing the job she loves in the community she grew up in.
“A big thank you from the bottom of my heart,” she said. “I feel so grateful to get to work in the community for 50 years. So thankful to all my past directors and library board members. It’s just been the best 50 years. And I’m so thankful for our current director Laura Fromwiller and my amazing manager Alyssa Waldie, my amazing co-workers, and the Library Board that all support the work I do.”
The BTPL is hosting a celebration open house for Hotchkiss, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on April 26, in honor of her 50 years at the library.