The Sharpsburg Community Library recently welcomed a new staff member and a familiar face to run its teen and children and youth programs, respectively.

Kiki Raines of Wilkinsburg was recently hired to fill the Cooper-Siegel Community Library branch’s new position to come up with youth activities.

“I really want to create a sense of community for the 10 and up age group,” she said. “A place where they know that there is something they can do every Thursday and Saturday. They can learn and expand themselves.”

Raines, 27, graduated from Oakland Catholic High School in 2012 and earned a degree in political science from the University of Pittsburgh in 2019.

She spent many of her younger days at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in Homewood. Raines said she developed positive relationships at that facility.

“Libraries mean a lot to me,” Raines said, “and I always wanted to work at a library since I was a kid.”

She hopes to incorporate a lot of STEAM programs — Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. A suggestion box is being created for people to submit activity ideas.

The teen coordinator position is a part-time, grant-funded job paid for through a Places of Opportunity grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation.

The grant was $150,000 and split with the Youth Empowerment Project, which was also able to hire a youth coordinator at their facility.

“The 10-to-18 youth demographic is actually the largest youth demographic in Sharpsburg, and they are very underserved,” branch manager Sara Mariacher said. “There’s not a lot for teens to do in town.”

Alison Babusci, 51, of Pittsburgh ran youth programs at the Sharpsburg branch for several years. She left the library in 2019 to pursue full-time work elsewhere.

Erin Thompson replaced Babusci and became the library’s STEAM coordinator that fall. She left in February to take a full-time position at another library.

When Babusci got an email to come back to Sharpsburg, she jumped at the chance.

“My new job’s my old job,” she said. “When I saw (the email) I honestly cried. I burst into tears because I missed it here.

“It’s easy to make an impact in Sharpsburg because it is a smaller town than working in the city of Pittsburgh. It just feels impactful, and it’s a really fun community here. … I’m honestly stunned how amazing everyone has been with my return.”

Babusci said her family has a lot of roots in Sharpsburg including her great grandmother, Katerina Grabowski, who was a Heinz pickle bottler at a borough plant for 27 years.

Babusci graduated from Schenley High School in 1988. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in theater from American University, and a master’s in educational leadership from Bank Street College of Education. She also is a certified k-12 art teacher and has a certification in elementary and early education.

The puppeteer and storyteller has told ghost stories every October at Cooper-Siegel for more than 25 years.

She said she is looking forward to incorporating her skill set with some new ideas.

“This time around, as youth coordinator, I do feel that I have a little more freedom without the STEAM in my title to lean into my real talents as an artist,” Babusci said.

Mariacher said everyone is excited to have Raines and Babusci on board.

“They bring a lot of positive energy to the library, and it’s wonderful to have youth service from the spectrum of age 0 all the way up to 18,” said Mariacher.

Compensation for the two administrators was not disclosed.

Raines is at the library Thursdays and Saturdays. Babusci is there Mondays and Wednesdays, as well as two Saturdays a month.

Information about library programs is available at coopersiegelcommunitylibrary.org/sharpsburg.

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