Growing up in Fair Haven, Pasquale Festa didn’t have to travel far from his hometown to take a job as the circulation librarian at the North Haven Memorial Library. Though his current job is only just ac ross the town line, the road to getting there was more circuitous.

After graduating from Notre Dame-West Haven in 1999, Pasquale wasn’t sure what he wanted to pursue in college. With an interest in chemistry, he attended an open house about pharmacology, but it didn’t pique his interest. He ended up attending Vassar College in Poughkeepsie.

“I didn’t want to go too far, but I wanted to feel like I was away from home, plus Vassar is a beautiful school,” says Pasquale. “I considered studying English, but then I found art history and I really liked it.”

After graduating, Pasquale worked in a museum’s visual resource library while he was deciding where to go with his career. As he realized how much more schooling would be involved in pursuing a career in the arts along with how much he enjoyed working in the library, he began to shift gears.

“I didn’t understand the concept that you needed a PhD to keep going with art, so I tried to readjust to see what I enjoyed,” says Pasquale. “I liked being in museums and the library setting.”

Pasquale attended graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin to pursue a degree in library science, graduating in 2008. After graduating, he stayed on in Austin for two more years and worked at the Supreme Court Library. Once he returned to Connecticut, he spent some time as an assistant at the library at the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts.

“While I’m not a big reader, I’ve always liked libraries and feel at home there,” says Pasquale. “I’m more of an arts person and enjoy film, art, and music. I’m also really organized and the aspect of keeping things in the right spot and cataloged for easy access.”

While Pasquale felt at home in the library setting, he again decided to shift his direction, taking a remote job in marketing and advertising with a company based out of Minnesota. He worked with the company for seven years, but when COVID hit, he was laid off.

“When that happened, I was deciding what I wanted to do,” says Pasqule. “Having been out of libraries for so long, I reminded myself that I went to school because I wanted to be a librarian. I decided to wind back and try to break back into the field I wanted to go into to begin with.”

Pasquale came across a listing for a circulation library at North Haven Memorial Library and was hired in January 2021. He was excited to find a position that interested him so close to home.

Coming back into the library field, Pasquale was grateful to his new coworkers for their help as he relearned his craft. He has not only enjoyed getting to know his coworkers, but the patrons of the library as well.

“It’s a small community-based library and it’s nice to be able to start recognizing faces and names and having the more genuine connections with patrons you don’t get a larger library,” says Pasquale. “I love the public service aspect and helping people.

“It’s really fulfilling to know that, even in simple ways, you can help people when they need a leg up or with problems they have or something as simple as helping with reading or film recommendations,” he adds.

As the circulation librarian, about half of Pasquale’s responsibilities are behind the scenes. He works on the logistics, such as library card forms and registrations, keeping track of inter-library loans, and more. The other half of his job is working at the desk and helping the public.

Pasquale has found opportunities to explore his interests in art and museums. Sue Griffiths, director of North Haven Memorial Library, has asked Pasquale to start building the library’s collection in terms of resources focusing on visual arts as well as picking movies for the film screening program.

The biggest project Pasquale is currently tasked with is the reinstatement of the library’s Museum Pass Program, which allows residents to borrow a pass to participating museums or attractions at a free or reduced admission. The Museum Pass Program was put on pause due to COVID.

“Sue Griffiths is really great and allows me to branch out and interact in other ways, putting together museum pass system,” says Pasquale. “With COVID a lot of museums and attractions had to shut down. Now that everything is starting to reopen, come January, we should have nearly everything we had previously and some new additions.”

Some of the new destinations include the Carousel Museum in Bristol, which also allows the pass holder to take rides on the carousel in Hartford; Everwonder Children’s Museum; and more arts and contemporary art museums, including Mass MOCA, which Pasquale says is “a little bit of a drive, but a great museum and a great place to spend the day.”

When Pasquale isn’t working, he enjoys watching movies, particularly independent films, and pursuing art. As an “amateur artist,” Pasquale enjoys painting, drawing, and print-making. He is also looking forward to attending more live music events.

Pasquale is excited that he has been able to return to his career path and even more so that he is able to incorporate his love of the arts and museums into his job. He is looking forward to relaunching the Museum Pass Program in January. Those 18 and older holding a library card can borrow the museum passes with a valid ID. For more information, visit northhavenlibrary.net.

“I’m pretty excited to see how that goes and once that’s set up, it’ll be nice to go back to my marketing and advertising background to see how much I can get it out there and get people to use it,” says Pasquale. “I like people being exposed to things they may not have found themselves.”