“How exactly does someone with degrees from two big-city universities and experience studying abroad end up wanting to live and work on a small island in Maine?”, I ask Island Fellow Siobhan Ryan as we begin to talk about her Island Fellowship on Swan’s Island and Frenchboro. I’ve just reviewed her résumé on the Island Institute website in preparation for our conversation. “Oh, that bio. It makes me sound like such a dork,” she replies with a laugh.
Ryan, who has studied in Uppsala, Sweden, holds a bachelor’s degree in History and English, magna cum laude, from Boston College, and received her master’s degree in Information and Library Sciences from the Pratt Institute in New York City, says she “went to school in the city because I wanted the education I could get there.” Her heart, though, has belonged to island life since spending much of her childhood on Martha’s Vineyard. “I grew up being fascinated with islands,” she says.
“Even though there are a lot of people living there, Martha’s Vineyard is still an island, with island problems,” Ryan explains. “There are issues with affordable housing, and with access to certain areas of education.” She relates a personal example: “When I was a kid I did Irish dance, and there wasn’t anyone on the island to teach. I ended up doing without, because I didn’t want to go over to Cape Cod every weekend for lessons. I did other kinds of dancing.”
Ryan, who is beginning the second year of her fellowship on Swan’s and Frenchboro, first learned of the Island Fellows program on a brief vacation to Maine with her parents during her final year at Pratt. “I saw an ad for the position, and they were looking for someone with library experience, and it sounded really interesting,” she remembers. “I monitored the Island Institute website for a whole year while I finished school. During that time, I was looking around New York City for jobs — I’m a librarian and I’m also certified as a teacher. I got several job offers, but kept feeling the pull to the Island Fellows program.”
Now, as the Island Fellow working with the libraries on Swan’s and Frenchboro, Ryan finds herself deeply engaged with the members of her new community, working with her advisers and mentors, Candi Joyce and Ruth Davis, with students at the Swan’s and Frenchboro schools, and with members of the community who have welcomed and assisted her at every turn.
Island life and work agree with her. “I love that work and life and play balance each other so well on the island,” she says. “I love going down to the SUNBEAM [the Maine Seacoast Mission vessel that regularly visits the islands] and talking with Sharon, the nurse, and Rob, the pastor, about what we’re all doing. We’ll have an informal meeting and chat and eat cookies. It’s fun and it’s not rushed. But things get done that end up benefiting the community.”
Ryan’s experience — and fascination — with everything library-related has been a boon to both island communities. One inspired idea was to pool the financial resources and the collections of the Frenchboro and Swan’s libraries to purchase software and create a shared catalog so that library users can access everything that’s available in both collections. Eventually, when cataloging is more complete, the libraries on the islands hope that books will be able to be loaned back and forth on the mailboat.
Ryan also has helped secure more than $30,000 in funding for the two libraries over the past year, including MBNA grants that allowed the Frenchboro Library to purchase new audio books for children, and the Swan’s Island Library to purchase between 500 and 700 adult nonfiction titles, and to acquire some 100 new DVDs. “Getting new material in the library is like Christmas for me–and I’ve had Christmas about 10 times this year,” she laughs. “Now all we need is the shelves to put them on.”
The willingness of island community members to help has provided the most surprising contrast to Ryan’s experience while living in New York City. “In New York, people have set jobs, and not a lot of time to do anything else,” she notes. “Here, people work hard, but they always have the time to help you out, whatever you need.” An example is the untold hours of advice and help Ryan has received from her two advisers, Candi Joyce and Ruth Davis. “Candi officially works 15 hours a week, but most weeks she probably puts in 40 hours for the library, and Ruth runs the Frenchboro Library on a volunteer basis,” Ryan says. “There is a real sense of commitment to the community here,” she observes, “and it’s not just a one-shot deal. People do it again and again.”
Asked if there have been any challenges to her life on Swan’s, Ryan pauses, trying to think of just one.
“I guess it’s trying to remember all the families, and who’s related to who,” she says.
Her fellowship, says Ryan, has showed her that work and fun are not necessarily at odds. “I love the amount of responsibility that I’ve been given as an Island Fellow, while at the same time having an overwhelming sense of fun doing my job. Being around people who work well together and who truly enjoy what they do is what I will want for myself in any job I end up in. From this experience, I know it’s possible.”
Kathy Westra is the Director of Communications at the Island Institute.