By Jennifer Cheek
Special to the NKyTribune
Rosie Carpenter has been at Boone County Public Library for almost a year as the Local History Associate in the Local History Department. Her main responsibility is to connect our patrons to resources to discover their heritage and the history of the local area.
Carpenter
“My favorite thing about BCPL is that I can put my personal passions into my work here,” she said. “The Local History Department has so much potential for various different kinds of programming. I’m hoping during my time here that I can expand this programming to include the natural history of Boone County as well.”
Although Carpenter is from Cincinnati, she is accomplishing great things in Northern Kentucky.
“I’m originally from West Chester, Ohio, but I currently live on the west side of Cincinnati. I recently graduated from the University of Cincinnati majoring in Landscape Archaeology with a certificate in Historic Preservation, Carpenter said. “Besides working at BCPL, I also work part time at an Architecture Firm in Over the Rhine doing Historic Preservation Consulting. Just within the past few months, I founded the Northern Kentucky Preservation Coalition, an organization committed through preservation, education and advocacy to maintain Northern Kentucky’s Historic Resources.”
Carpenter was making a difference even before she came to BCPL.
“I worked for the State Historic Preservation Office in Columbus, Ohio. While I was there I was part of the Garden Leadership Committee which put together a Staff Community Garden. It was a great way to get staff from all departments to come together over a shared interest that wasn’t work related,” she said. “One of the initiatives of the garden was to donate our produce to a local food bank. I took a course at Ohio State University and became certified in growing food for consumption, that way the garden would be up to protocol and ensure that the produce we were donating was safe to eat.”
Working two jobs in a field she is passionate about leaves little free time. Amazingly, Carpenter uses her free time to do more of what makes her successful in her job.
“I like taking workshops or classes about urban homesteading and gardening,” Carpenter said. “I’m pretty fascinated with how people have used native plants historically, especially when used for medicinal purposes. I recently was awarded a fellowship through the Lloyd Library and Museum to pursue a research project to create a Historic Garden Exhibit, which will hopefully be eventually executed at the new Hebron Branch.”
Jennifer Cheek is the Public Relations Specialist at Boone County Public Library. A graduate from the College of Mount St. Joseph focusing on English and Communications, she previously worked in Advertising/Media Buying and still continues as a freelancer.
