Have you seen a new face around Watertown High lately? Well, don’t be alarmed — that tall, young lady with brown, shoulder-length hair is the new librarian, Erin Piazza.

Last April, Linda Picceri retired as librarian of the Watertown Public Schools. Ever since, Rachel Morgan and Toni Carlson were doing their part looking over the library every day.

Piazza currently resides in Somerville, a nice commute to Watertown High. She is from Medford, went to Holy Cross in Worcester for college, then worked in the Tufts University academic department for eight years. She went on to finish graduate school at Simmons in Library and Information Science.

Piazza said she was attracted to the close-knit community in Watertown when she was applying for the job. 

Piazza always knew she wanted to pursue a career in education. The atmosphere at the libraries she often visited when she was younger took a toll on her and now look where she is!

“I love that I get to work with students and teachers, and that I can get to know students in different grades and who may be working on different subjects,’’ she said. “It’s also really interesting and exciting to work on integrating all of the technology that’s developed in recent years [eBooks, Web 2.0 tools, etc.] into the library.”

Besides hanging out in the library, Ms. Piazza enjoys reading, watching TV, and cooking. Her favorite TV shows are “30 Rock,” “Arrested Development,” and “Mad Men.” Her all-time favorite books are “The Giver” and the Harry Potter series.

Some new books Piazza has gotten a chance to read are “Reality Boy” and “Fangirl”. Ms. Piazza’s favorite authors are John Green, Wally Lamb, Dave Beggars, and David Sedaris.

Unfortunately, Piazza had to witness the incident before Christmas break when a bullet was found at the high school.

“The Friday before break was obviously an unusual day, but it was great to see how well all the students and teachers handled everything,” she said.

Around 50 students were stuck in the library that day and Ms. Piazza was impressed at how well the students handled the situation.

Piazza loves that the library is a busy and bustling place and hopes it continues to be so. The Library has accounts on Twitter (@WatertownHSLib) and Pinterest (watertownhslib), and students are encouraged to take a survey about the library.

“I’m interested in hearing from students and teachers about what they’d like to see in the library in the future,” she said.

–March 3, 2014–