It&8217;s easy to see that children&8217;s library assistant Sandra Dickie loves her job.

Chatting pleasantly in the cool, comfortable second floor of the Demopolis Public Library, Dickie is surrounded by books &8212; and that&8217;s just how she likes it.

The mother of three stayed at home to raise her children for 18 years, often volunteering with reading initiatives in the Demopolis City Schools system, and then nearly a year ago she joined the library staff.

Her children &8212; &8220;two girls and a boy stuck in the middle,&8221; &8212; keep Dickie busy when she&8217;s not at work.

As her children have grown up, Dickie has made sure they had a passion for reading &8212; a love she shares.

Dickie, a Demopolis native, moved back to town while her two oldest children were still very young.

She and her husband have been married for 24 years &8212; &8220;25 years in November,&8221; &8212; settling back into life in her hometown.

As a working mom, Dickie has little time to herself. But if she did, she&8217;s pretty sure that she&8217;d know what she would want to do.

The best part of her job comes when she&8217;s recommended a book to a child who may not really want to read. But when the child comes back and is excited by the material, Dickie says that is a huge reward.

And as she interacts with the children in the library, it&8217;s easy to see how she got the job. Dickie takes pains not to talk down to the young people &8212; after all, these are library patrons as well. And she knows that if she can help give these children a good impression of books and the library, it could influence their reading habits over a lifetime.

It&8217;s a given that Dickie reads a lot, but what might be surprising is how she reads across genres.

Editor&8217;s note: Spotlighting Your Neighbor is a new feature in The Demopolis Times that will runs regularly in the Serendipity section.