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to the
Tamaqua Area Public Library, the central facility for
the library system that serves
Tamaqua, PA. Our collection contains 43, 082 volumes
and circulates 30, 386 items per year. We serve a
population of 17, 042 residents.
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About Gail Heath: article courtesy of The Times News
New library director in Tamaqua
Cressona woman has wide range of professional experiences
By JOE PLASKO
jplasko@tnonline.com
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New library director Gayle Heath stands by a mineral display at the Tamaqua Public Library. Heath brings a wide range of experiences to the job, including a degree in geological sciences as well as having worked in the oil industry and as a teacher. |
Gayle Heath is not the stereotypical librarian.
While others in the field might have spent their time among stacks of books, Heath, the new director at the Tamaqua Public Library, has worked in the oil industry and in the classroom.
"I guess I'm a Renaissance woman," said Heath with a smile as she described her life experiences. "I've always loved to read, and at the library, you have access to all of the information you would want."
Heath began her new position on March 31 after spending several years as a teacher at Shamokin Area High School, the Northumberland Vocational-Technical School in Shamokin, and as a Graduation Equivalency Diploma (GED) instructor for Schuylkill Intermediate Unit 29, Mar Lin, among her educational stops.
The Tamaqua library director's job required a Bachelor degree, and Heath has one, but not one most people would expect.
A graduate of Schuylkill Haven Area High School, Heath has a Bachelor of Science degree in geological sciences from Penn State University.
"I have had a life long love of minerals, and I was always looking for fossils as a kid," said Heath, who mentioned the area is a rich one for those who enjoy fossil hunting.
After graduating from Penn State, Heath went to Texas for 14 years, where she worked for Core Laboratories, a service company in the oil industry. It was while in Texas that she met her husband, Dave, who is employed by Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. The Heaths live in Cressona and have a son, Zachary, a senior at Blue Mountain High School, Orwigsburg.
The oil business has its ups and downs, and in 1992, Core Laboratories folded. Heath decided to pursue her teaching certificate. "It was time for me to branch in a new direction," she remarked.
The Heaths moved to Pennsylvania and Gayle worked part time as a secretary for the First United Methodist Church, Schuylkill Haven, as well as with the World Resources Company, Pottsville, a firm which recycles metal hydroxide sludge for environmental purposes, she explained.
Heath acquired a secondary teacher's certification to teach earth and space science.
Her first teaching job came at St. Nicholas School, Minersville, for three years, the first two as an enrichment teacher for grades 2-8, and the third year as a full-time eighth grade teacher.
She then went to the Schuylkill Intermediate Unit as a GED instructor, then onto the Northumberland Vo-Tech and Shamokin Aea High School.
Heath was part of Project 720, an initiative in which schools receive grants to focus on teaching skills that will make students more marketable upon graduation.
"The 720 represents the number of days in school a student spends in grades 9-12," she noted. "While there, I tutored 11th graders in math to get them ready for the PSSA (Pa. System of Student Assessment, given to students in grades 5, 8 and 11 to test them against State standards in math and reading)."
Now at the Tamaqua Public Library, Heath is working to reinvent herself once again.
"I had to make a commitment to get library science credits, and I will be working on getting a provisional library certificate," she mentioned.
"So far I am enjoying it here. Everyone has been very kind and welcoming."
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