Beginning June 27 there will be a new face at the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library. Desiree Scorcia will replace Mary Pinkham, who claimed the title for 29 years, as the children's librarian. Her title will be youth services librarian, as her duties won't be limited to just younger children. “I'll be able to reach out to the older students as well,” she said.

Scorcia has been teaching physics and math at Boothbay Region High School for three years. She has a bachelor's degree is in physics and a master’s degree in science journalism.

“I always had a hard time deciding what I was going to do because I love science, but I also love reading and writing,” she said. “So I tried to combine those two things.”

Scorcia wrote curriculum for Kaplan University in 2004 and 2005. “It was freelance,” she said. “I wrote textbooks and practice tests.” After the birth of her second daughter freelancing become too difficult, but she continued to write while she was at home with her children.

Having grown up in Boothbay, Scorcia has lived in several places. She graduated from Boston College, where she worked for the student newspaper and majored in physics, then moved to Santa Cruz, California to study science journalism at the University of California. “I thought this could be perfect,” she said. “This could be that merge of science and journalism.”

Scorcia said that teaching was a natural extension of the science and curriculum writing. “I've liked teaching, but I haven't written anything in three years. The children's librarian position won't entail much writing, but it will entail books.

“I love children's books and I will be bringing STEM programming, which involves science, technology, engineering and mathematics, in for the kids.”

Last fall Scorcia introduced an after school Lego robotics club. “It was a lot of fun,” she said. “I'm hoping to do more things like that.”

One of the new programs Scorcia will introduce in her new job will be a “drop in SAT prep” for high school students, on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to noon. “Students can come and we'll have some books and some resources that they can casually work on for free.”

She is also looking into an after school plan that will help both students and parents. “The school has an early release on Wednesdays,” she said. “Students are done at 1:30, and I'd like to have a bus come to the library so that kids can have a place to do homework when their parents aren't at home. And I'd love to have the older kids helping the younger ones.”

Scorcia will be overseeing the children's room and the pre-teen room. One of the first changes she's planning is to rearrange the bookshelves in the children's room. “Right now it's hard to see the kids through the shelves. And there used to be a couch in there. I'd like to bring that back. It's nice to have that for the moms to hang out and to read to babies.

“I'm a believer that it's a good thing to start reading to babies right after birth.”

Assistant Director Joanna Breen said she's looking forward to working with Scorcia. “I'm really excited to welcome Desiree to the library. I think it's going to be fun to see her spin on the children's room. It's a new era, and she's bringing her own skill set that I think will be very well-received.”

Scorcia spoke warmly of her predecessor. “I moved to Boothbay 32 years ago and Mary was a huge part of my life as a child. I feel like hers are huge shoes to fill, but I'm very excited and feel so lucky to be taking over after her. I feel that this is going to be just the perfect balance of the things I love.”

Scorcia will start on June 15. “I'm so excited for this,” she said. “I didn't realize that with teaching you don't talk to a lot of adults. It was hard to not have much adult interaction. I love kids and but I'm looking forward to being around people of all ages.

“And I want to make a difference.”