He was in the Peace Corps from 1993-95, in West Africa. "It had the arid landscape, too," he said. "The cultural effect was powerful." He ended up in Gambia, a small country in western Africa. "Living overseas gave me a better understanding of my own culture as well as an understanding of a different culture in a total immersion way. You figure out how your own society ticks. "It was invaluable, it was an incredible experience."
The Gambia RPCV Dan Kammer is new director of the Townsend Library at New Mexico State University-Alamogordo
Warm climate attracts new Townsend Library director
Alamogordo Daily News
By Bev Eckman-Onyskow, For the Daily News
Article Launched:11/02/2006 12:00:00 AM MST
Dan Kammer said he won't hate winter as much this year. He just moved south and bought a house in Tularosa.
"Albuquerque winters can be brutal," he said in an interview this week.
Kammer is the new director of the Townsend Library at New Mexico State University-Alamogordo. He started Aug. 26.
His passion for libraries began when he worked as a circulation clerk at Seattle University. "I loved that job, it helped me decide to get into a library job and become a librarian some day. It took me awhile to decide what I wanted to do."
There were several factors in his decision to take the job, but one is the climate.
"It's warmer here than Albuquerque and we both like it warm," he said, referring to his wife, Jenna.
Kammer remembers winters past. He grew up in Albion, Mich., which is in a snow belt in the south-central part of the state. "I'm still a Detroit sports fan. I still follow the Detroit sports teams online," he said.
But he has acclimated easily. "I like the Southwest, there's something about the landscape that draws me to this region," he said. "I like the Hispanic cultural influence."
And he likes the warm weather.
"I don't know if I could ever move back to Michigan or the Midwest."
Kammer
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has some grounds for comparison. He was in the Peace Corps from 1993-95, in West Africa. "It had the arid landscape, too," he said. "The cultural effect was powerful."
He ended up in Gambia, a small country in western Africa. "Living overseas gave me a better understanding of my own culture as well as an understanding of a different culture in a total immersion way. You figure out how your own society ticks.
"It was invaluable, it was an incredible experience."
Kammer was born in Pullman, Wash., and moved to Albion, Mich., with his family as a child. He graduated Albion College with a degree in philosophy.
That, he said, was because "I didn't know what I wanted to do."
So he did a variety of things.
He worked as a legal assistant, a bus driver, a baker, a math teacher and an office worker in a hospital. Along the way he had taken a master's degree in mathematics at the University of Iowa.
Eventually, he landed at the University of Arizona-Tucson and decided to return to that first goal, to be a librarian. He earned a master's in library science. He met and married Jenna, who also holds a master's in library science.
They made a joint decision that she would stay home with the children until they are school age. That covers two sons, Noah, 3, and Leif, 1 1/2.
The Tularosa Basin is a hidden gem, Kammer said. "It's like an undiscovered area, and I like that."
The move to NMSU-A "was a move up, to director. I also thought it would be a nicer environment to raise the kids.
He had previously been associate director of the library on the Montoya Campus of Central New Mexico Community College, formerly called TVI, (Albuquerque) Technical and Vocational Institute. "It's a huge institution, as large as New Mexico State University's main campus (in Las Cruces)," he noted.
After two months of assessment, Kammer said he likes the NMSU-A campus, which has around 2,000 students. "The size is wonderful, there is a lot of attention given to students," he said.
Kammer points out the artwork on the walls near the library entrance. It's a rotating exhibit, he explained.
"The art is from different organizations in the community, or from individuals. Sometimes it's art done by our own faculty and staff," he said. "Often these are for sale, too."
The current exhibit is from the Cloudcroft Art Society, and the frames are included in the purchase price on each piece.
The library is doing a good job in the opinion of its users. "The people are very cooperative, the library provides a lot of great resources for students," said Maria Saenz, who was on her way into the library.
She is working on her PhD, after earning bachelor's and master's degrees at NMSU.
Senior Don Pethick will graduate in May with two associate's degrees. "I like the fact that it's still quiet in this library, a lot of libraries are noisier, " he said. "It may be an old-school approach, but it means that people can study.
Kammer sat in his office sporting an "I support Bond C" button pushing a "Yes" vote on GO (General Obligation) Bond C, which is on the Nov. 7 ballot. Passage would provide $3 million for New Mexico Public libraries, $3 million for publicly funded school libraries, and $3 million for academic libraries.
That means the Townsend Library would get around $40,000.
The role of the Townsend Library is primarily to serve the NMSU-A students, faculty and staff.
"A lot of folks aren't aware we also serve the community," Kammer said.
Residents can obtain a "Community Borrower" card and check out material books and videos. If under age 18, the person would have to have the card signed by a parent or guardian.
Programs are also available, including book and poetry readings. "I want to continue that," Kammer said.
The Townsend Library is not in competition with the Alamogordo Public Library or other area libraries. Kammer said he enjoys "meeting and working with other local librarians and library staff."
He is strongly in favor of a new public library for Alamogordo. "I'm going to try to get involved with the new library project," he said. "Doing it in phased construction seems like a good idea."
In addition to working for a new public library, Kammer is interested in what can be done now.
"We are trying to work to form some kind of partnership with the Alamogordo Public Library on a basic level," he said. "The state library is putting together a consortium catalog, which can form subsets on local holdings.
"For example, what material is available just from the APL and this library and the Holloman library," he said. "We could share resources and have a courier service that would go between the libraries. Someone down at the public library could get a book or video from our collection by courier if they don't want to come up here."
Kammer said his goal as the new director of the Townsend Library is "to make it even more responsive to the needs of the NMSU-A community, students, faculty and staff."
Bev Eckman-Onyskow is an Alamogordo-based freelance writer and vice-president of the Alamogordo Public Library board.
