Grad Profile: Maella Aponte

Maella Aponte has always been interested in expanding her knowledge of the world around her. Aponte earned her first degree in secondary education from Northampton Community College (NCC) in 2021 with hopes of becoming an English teacher, but something else was in store for her. 

Feeling like she was being pulled in a different direction, Aponte needed some time to reflect on her experience after student teaching. “After graduating with my bachelor’s, a library position opened up right in town. I still am able to use my degree at this job.” 

Combining her love of books and reading with her desire to make connections with her community, Aponte decided to pursue library science as a career path. 

“The role of a librarian is to be available for people with their questions, continuing their education, and expanding their knowledge of the world around them. That's exciting to me.” 

Aponte says that her education background has helped tremendously in her work, but she needed more knowledge about the workings of a library. She enrolled at NCC to earn her library technician specialized diploma, with which she will graduate this winter. 

During her time at NCC, she has helped her fellow students as a tutor in the Learning Center. Being a resource for peers and those younger than her comes naturally to Aponte. “When hosting my teen programs, seeing their appreciation for having a space just for them to do research or decompress makes the job all worth it.”  

Through her studies, Aponte has learned that there’s so much that goes into working at a library, including the time and effort it takes a cataloger to input new materials into the system, guidelines for public computer use, and even budgeting between the different areas of a library. 

“Library budgets are often slashed, so, figuring out a way to make libraries continue to run effectively is a difficult ongoing task. It's also knowing what resources are trustworthy for patrons to research their topics and guiding them to find their answers.” 

Aponte has aspirations of becoming a youth services advisor, assistant director, or young adult librarian, although teaching is not completely off the table. “What I know right now is that I love my job very much, enough to further my education and receive a specialized diploma for myself and for my community.”