Debbie Carney recently joined the Newtown Library Company team at 114 E. Centre Ave. Known to the youngest readers as “Miss Debbie,” she provides experience as well as a deep love for reading and research.
Originally from Westfield, New Jersey, Debbie moved to Newtown in 1987 with her family. "My journey into librarianship began with a simple love for information and books, and a career test that pointed me to the library world," she states.
Debbie holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from James Madison University and a master’s degree in library science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Since 2008, she served as a part-time reference librarian at Bucks County Community College, assisting students and faculty with research and teaching information literacy. Her specialties include business research, literary criticism, popular culture and social issues.
Debbie’s taste in books is both classic and adventurous. She counts Charles Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers, Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society among her favorites.
"I love cozy mysteries and modern retellings of literary classics," she confides.
Debbie's no stranger to the Newtown Library Company. She volunteered there from 2009 to 2015, and says she's thrilled to now return in an official capacity. Passionate about history, she admits she's eager to become part of the ongoing story of Newtown and this cherished library, whose founding was Aug. 9, 1760.
The library also offers children's story hours, open mic events for poetry and the Penn Chair Traveler Series' presentations. Library members receive access to 20,000-plus books, public reading rooms, free Wi-Fi, book signings and regular community events.
Debbie says she enjoys cooking and baking, practicing yoga and walking her two beloved dogs, a mini Labradoodle and a Chocolate Labrador.
Her favorite motto hails from Mother Theresa: “Spread love wherever you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.”