New Republic library manager enthusiastic about serving the public

The Republic branch of the Springfield-Greene County Library is under new management. Tysha Shay, an Ash Grove native, is the new manager of the library branch; she took over the position on Monday, Jan. 6.
Shay said she wanted to become the Republic branch manger because the job seemed to be a good fit for her.
“After working over a decade at my position at the Library Station, I was looking for another opportunity and this position seemed like the right fit for me and the library,”
she said.
“During my time at the Library Station I had taken on more administrative staff related projects including helping to develop the district person-in-charge staff training and manual, being project manager for the library welcome videos and continuing to lead senior and dementia inclusive programming and services through Stories for Life, a program I created. Working on these projects exposed me to different audiences in the community and I better understood how the library can become an integral part of its community.”
Asked what she enjoys most about her job, Shay said, “The answer is always people.”
“As a frontline manager at the Library Station, I worked a service desk daily and developed relationships with the patrons. From the short time I’ve been working at the Republic branch, the patrons have been very welcoming and I look forward to getting to know them better.”
Shay was born in Springfield and spent some of her early years in Ash Grove. However, a medical condition forced her and her family to move west.
“As a child I had severe allergies and asthma,” she said. “My condition came to a crossroads and my pediatrician told my parents, Less King and Nedra King, to move west to a dryer climate. So, my family and I moved to Las Vegas, Nev. in 1989. I grew up and lived in Las Vegas until 2005. For several years, all my family except for my mother and I, lived in Las Vegas. I would visit my grandmother and other extended family two to three times a year.”
While living in Las Vegas, Shay got her start as a librarian.
“I began working in public libraries when I was 16 with the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District,” she said. “I worked my way through different positions at different size libraries during my employment there. From a page to the assistant circulation manager to a youth services librarian, a reference associate and even a short stint serving inmates at the Clark County Detention Center. No one famous was there when I worked there though.”
After graduating high school, Shay attended the Thomas Edison State College in Trenton, N. J., where she earned a Bachelor’s of Science in business administration. She then went on to earn a master’s in library and information science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She returned to Springfield in August of 2005 when she became a professional librarian at the Library Center, and later became reference manager at the Library Station, where she remained until transferring to her current position
in Republic.