HOUGHTON — The Portage Lake District Library has a new director. ABC 10’s Amanda L’Esperance tells us who it is.

Portage Lake District library has a new director. Dillon Geshel was hired into the position after a unanimous vote by the Library’s Board of Trustees. Geshel has been serving as interim director since the previous director retired. Geshel says he grew up in the area, so he’s familiar with the library and the community.

Geshel said, “So I started working here as a page in 2010 while I was an undergraduate. I was studying English at Michigan Tech, so I always knew that I wanted to pursue a career that involved reading and writing in some capacity. When I started working in libraries that really clicked for me.”

As library director, Geshel oversees all internal operations of the library and answers to the library board. One goal he has is to bring more teens and young adults to the library through programming.

Geshel said, “I’d like to let more people know that the library has a lot more than just books to offer. We have over 300 community programs a year on all kinds of different topics and a number of different digital collections and digital research databases as well. If you have a library card you can access almost all of them from home. You could also do it in the library and every Saturday we actually offer computer programs for people who don’t know how to use computers yet.”

Geshel says he is excited to see what communities are under-served and find ways to improve and provide service to them as well.