BY SUSAN WARE

For the past 10 years, Fran Schapperele has spent her free time volunteering at the Pembroke Town Library.

“I love to read. People ask me all the time if I’ve seen ‘Dancing With The Stars’ or ‘American Idol’ and I tell them no. I’d rather spend time with a good book than watch television,” she said.

For two hours every Tuesday and as the library needs, Schapperele processes new books, recovers old books and does the cutting and pasting needed for many children’s programs.

“A lot of what I do is busy work, but I don’t mind. Isn’t it better to have a volunteer do it than a salaried librarian who has so much else to do because of staff shortages?” she said.

Not only does Schapperele do the little things that keep the library running smoothly, she is an ambassador for the library.

“When I’m at Curves, or having breakfast with church friends, someone always seems to want to know something about the library and what’s there and I tell them. I like to talk it up, it’s a valuable resource,” she said.

Schapperele spent one recent Tuesday morning cutting out tiny red apples for an upcoming back-to-school program. With dozens on the work table ready to be cut, she painstakingly cut out each one perfectly.

“One thing every library needs – a bigger work room. We need one, I hear they all do. Everyone underestimates how much work really goes into running a library, and how much space is needed to get it all done,” she said.

Schapperele said that she is always busy when she is at the library, because they are shortstaffed.

“In any library, volunteers are important because we fill in the staffing gaps where the money has run out,” she said.

The hardest part of her job, Schapperele said, is not getting lost in a book she is supposed to be recovering.

“It is a big problem. Everything is so interesting,” she said.