Amy Turnbull

CANYON CITY – Grant County has a new librarian.

The County Court last week offered the library director job to Amelia (Amy) Turnbull, who has accepted and will start work July 21.

Turnbull, 29, succeeds Melody Jackson, who retired in March after 31 years with the Grant County Library.

The county received 11 applications for the post, and completed the interview process last week. The job, which is part time at 32 hours a week, has a starting salary of $20.55 per hour.

Turnbull earned her master’s of library and information science (MLIS) earlier this year from Rutgers University in New Jersey.

She got her bachelor’s degree in anthropology at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania in 2003, and then a master’s in forensic anthropology at the University of Bradford in England in 2005.

In a telephone interview, she said she realized as she finished her research work for her first master’s that she liked the research and library aspects better than digging in the dirt on anthropological projects.

In Grant County, she said, “I’m looking forward to helping people enjoy books and use the library.”

Although her studies took her far away, she said the rural Northwest is home, and she’s looking forward to settling in Grant County.

She said she has lived in the region before, and has friends living in John Day. Her father was a Forest Service employee, so her family has always “lived in small towns where the trees are,” she said.

Since getting her MLIS, Turnbull has been living in Chehalis, Wash., and volunteering at the Washington State Library.

In her spare time, she said she enjoys books, cross stitch and needlepoint and is learning to play bridge.