New Catonsville Library Branch Manager Comes from Reisterstown

Catonsville residents will notice a new face at the this week, as Melissa Gotsch takes over as the branch manager.

Gotsch was the branch manager for the Reisterstown branch prior to coming to Catonsville. Margaret Prescott as Catonsville's branch manager at the end of March.

BCPL Spokesman Bob Hughes said it’s a significant promotion because of the size of the branch.

In fiscal year 2010, 580,000 items were borrowed from the Reisterstown branch and 857,000 were borrowed from the Catonsville branch. Fifty-nine percent more people came into the Catonsville branch in FY10, with 479,000 visitors compared to Reisterstown’s 284,000.

Gotsch has been active in two BCPL committees that greatly shape the library system’s future, Hughes said.

“Melissa has been an absolutely wonderful branch manager at Reisterstown,” he said. “She came here with a lot of experience before she ever arrived at BCPL.”

Prior to coming to BCPL, Gotsch worked at the Columbus Metropolitan Library in Ohio and the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. In 2006, she became the assistant library manager at BCPL’s Hereford branch, and moved to the branch as assistant manager in 2007. She became the Reisterstown branch manager in 2008.

“It’s a well-deserved promotion and we couldn’t be happier,” Hughes said. “We think the people of Catonsville are fortunate to have such a great branch manager coming their way.”