Brystan Strong ‘13, Programs Coordinator for Jackson County Library Services
By Annalynn Mueller, senior English Major
April 29, 2025
Pictured above: Brystan reading at the 2024 Children’s Festival in Jacksonville
Brystan Strong transferred to Southern Oregon University from Mt. Hood Community College to pursue her degree in English and Creative Writing, with a minor in Shakespeare Studies. During her time at SOU, Brystan enjoyed her linguistics and creative nonfiction writing classes, which have helped her in her current position with Jackson County Library. After transferring, Brystan thought that she wanted to pursue a degree in education, but then determined that she did not want to be an English teacher. Through a series of “‘what do I do now?” conversations with her English professors, Brystan decided she was interested in attending library school after graduation.
“[My SOU English classes] helped me learn ways to make my communication accessible to all types of people, and how to share this information in an easy-to-read way.”
– Brystan Strong
After graduating from SOU with her degree in English, she attended San Jose State’s School of Information (now called iSchool) for a three-year distance learning program, where her focus was Public Librarianship with an emphasis in youth services and Early Literacy Learning.
In her current role as Programs Coordinator for Jackson County Library Services, Brystan oversees the programs and events across all 15 libraries in the country. As the Programs Coordinator, Brystan “manages the online calendar and ensures that the programs match [the library] mission, vision, and values.” She also consults with branch-level staff to help them brainstorm program ideas, and design policies, training, and procedures.
Brystan’s position operates on a quarterly scale: “Right now I am finishing up the spring quarter—sending supplies out to branches, wrapping up invoices, etc.” Spring is also the time of year when Brystan typically seeks out her own professional development opportunities and attends conferences and training. Soon, Brystan will start looking ahead and ordering supplies for the summer quarter and then will create the fall program schedule. On top of the rotating quarterly schedules, Brystan manages “mundane work stuff” like emails and meetings.
Brystan keeps up with her youth-services work by recording storytimes for the library YouTube channel and reading stories at the Children’s Festival. She also gets to make infomercials for the library!
Pictured Above: Brystan speaking at the 2024 Oregon Library Association Conference.
Because Brystan’s position does not allow her to have a typical day-to-day schedule, she has to work hard to manage time effectively: “I have to think about what needs to get done this quarter vs this month vs this week. And then each day I create a to-do list to help me make forward progress on all of the tasks.”
This unique structure is also part of what Brystan likes best about her position: “It is very rewarding to have deep conversations with staff about the programs they are having or want to have at their branch. I love learning about each of the 15 unique communities we have here in Jackson County and trying to help branches design programs and events that those communities want, and I get to make some very great community connections and work with other organizations who have similar missions.”
Working as Programs Coordinator was not Brystan’s original goal (She wanted to be a Children’s Librarian). Right out of grad school, she got another administrative position as a Youth Services Coordinator, where she managed youth events, selected youth-reading materials, and did outreach: “It was in that position that I really learned that I liked being in a sort of administrative role.”
Brystan uses her English degree “A LOT” in her current position as she is constantly communicating through writing, whether it be emails, policies, or training documents. She also writes for the Library Connect Blog monthly and occasionally writes for the Oregon Library Association Journal. Additionally, she facilitates a creative writing program at the main Jackson County Library branch on Tuesday evenings. Her English degree has also come in handy as she participates and leads story times.
“I love being able to talk about books and reading with people of all ages.”
– Brystan Strong
If you are interested in library work, Brystan urges that you make sure to “be flexible.” Libraries have many different types of positions: outreach, public services, collection development, adult services, youth services, technical services, and more. Each position “requires different types of expertise and personalities.” Brystan stresses that “library work is a constantly changing and evolving field. So it requires a type of person who is also willing to constantly change and evolve and grow.”
Part of the reason that Brystan enjoys working in library services is because “libraries are so many things to so many people.” She loves being a part of this environment that is important to so many members of the community: “It’s a cool place to be when it’s warm out and a warm place to be when it’s cold out. It’s a place where parents can bring their kids to play and learn for free. It’s a place of study. It’s where people can use the internet to fill out job applications or look for housing. It’s where people go to connect to services they may need. It’s a repository of information. It’s where you can get the latest book or movie on that series you love. It’s a community center. It’s a place where people can just exist.”
“Libraries are so many things to so many people…it’s a community center. It’s a place where people can just exist.”
– Brystan Strong
To continue to support libraries and give people this “place to…just exist,” Brystan states that the “most impactful thing as well as the easiest thing that people can do to support their libraries is to use them. Get a library card, check out some materials (we have more than just books! We have a whole robust collection of things as well as books music, and movies), attend a program, and of course vote when applicable for measures that support the libraries or for library board members that exemplify what libraries stand for.” To continue to learn more about how to support libraries, she recommends checking out Jackson County’s advocacy toolkit.
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Interested in being featured on the English Program blog? Or know someone who is interested? Contact English Program blogger Annalynn Mueller at muellera1@sou.edu .
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