Sauerlach - Dagmar Ginthum managed the library in Sauerlach for ten years.
Now she is handing it over to Irene Niedermaier.
For ten years, Dagmar Ginthum ran the library in the community of Sauerlach on a voluntary basis.
In April 2022 she will hand over her position to Irene Niedermaier, who already has some plans in her luggage.
At the most recent meeting of the Sauerlach municipal council, Niedermaier introduced himself to the committee.
But what was actually only a formal appointment, because the 57-year-old is Sauerlacher and well known to most.
“We've always known each other,” said Mayor Barbara Bogner with a laugh.
She was very happy when Niedermaier contacted her about the advertised position.
"I didn't know that she was interested," said the town hall chief.
At the Carl Hanser Verlag in Munich
Niedermaier hadn't really planned this either, as she explained to the committee. "I've been looking for a volunteer position for a long time, but I've never found the right one," she said. By chance she came across the website of the community library and the job advertisement there simply would not have let go of her mind.
For the woman from Sauerlach, the library management is the ideal of a voluntary position. She read a lot in her childhood and the libraries were her second home when she studied art history.
After that, Niedermaier worked for eight years in various publishing houses, including Carl Hanser Verlag in Munich.
For 20 years now, she has been in charge of marketing and public relations in a subsidiary of the German Savings Banks Organization.
Contacts in the book scene
She can also use her contacts in the book scene and her organizational talent in her voluntary work. "I would like to bring more people to the library through events, for example, in the hope of winning them over as readers," she explained. The school library is also an important pillar: "The purpose of a library is to convey the joy of reading early on and thereby broaden the children's horizons so that they can look beyond their own nose in the future."
The fact that the position is becoming vacant at all is due to the fact that the previous director, Dagmar Ginthum, is giving up her honorary position after ten years.
"It was very nice, but now it is time," she said.
She started her job in the library on February 1, 2012 and has done a lot since then.
“We can only say thank you very much,” said Mayor Bogner.
During her time as head of department, Ginthum was a popular boss for all employees, she did a lot of training and introduced some innovations.
As one of the first community libraries in the area, the 58-year-old was also responsible for digitizing the Sauerlach library and setting up a so-called online library.
Decision in Sauerlach
On March 31, 2022, she will resign from her position.
What Ginthum is particularly pleased about is “that the library will then be run by a woman on a voluntary basis for the fourth time in a row”.
In Niedermaier, she would have found a qualified candidate for the post, but who also needs a lot of support for digital change and the library as a meeting place.
"I hope she will have enough staff to help her master these challenges," Ginthum asked the local council and the mayor.
The committee still has to make an official decision for the new head, but that too will only be a formality.
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