Meet Ronice Nolt, the new director at Annville Free Library

As the Annville Free Library celebrates the successful completion of its expansion project, it also welcomes Ronice Nolt as its new library director.

The 45-year-old Lancaster County native spoke with LebTown about her journey to becoming a librarian in Lebanon County.

At age 15, Nolt started volunteering at Ephrata Public Library. “About a month into volunteering, they asked to hire me. I started as a library page, which is basically just a shelver, and worked my way up,” she said.

Nolt entered PennWest Clarion as a communications major but realized after about a month into the first semester that she wanted to pursue a different path.

PennWest Clarion happened to have an accredited library and information science program, which she pivoted to as her major. “I grew up loving libraries, going to the library, doing the summer reading program, all that fun stuff, so it just kind of was a natural thing to go to school for,” she said.

Nolt graduated from PennWest Clarion in 2002, amid major budget cuts. “So, lost my job there and didn’t find something else right away, kind of floundered for a while, looking for other jobs, exploring options,” she said.

For a decade, Nolt was a stay-at-home mom to her two daughters, now ages 10 and 14, along with their “wild puppy.”

In 2020, Nolt, who moved to Lebanon County in 2014, started in her first role in the Lebanon County Library System as the host of the Smart Start Storytime program. Later, she became the children’s librarian and, briefly, the library director at Richland Community Library.

In early December 2024, Nolt became the library director at Annville Free Library after she stumbled across the opening for the position. “I saw the immense potential with all the growth here, and it just seemed like a natural place for me to be able to put some of my ideas that I had,” she said.

Former Annville library director Dylan Fye returned several times to help Nolt with the onboarding process after starting his new role as the district consultant librarian of the Lebanon County Library System.

“I’ve just had a lot of really great support, all along the way, friends and colleagues and now staff and board members,” she said.

As the new director, Nolt immediately got to work coordinating programs and program leaders in preparation for the creativity center’s unofficial opening in March.

Since then, the creativity center has hosted nine programs for various age groups, including book bedazzling, bricks to books, which involves painting bricks to look like books to be displayed outdoors, and bread, salsa, and pie-crust making.

One of the programs that Nolt mentioned is in the works for the creativity center is a toddler art program. Children will stand inside adjustable towers while they create artwork alongside their parents at the work tables. These towers expand the age range the creativity center can serve.

In addition to the creativity center, Nolt’s work so far has focused on the use of the community rooms. Books clubs, AA groups, a menopause café, and a death café have been held in these rooms over the past 11 months.

“I think the most exciting thing is just that there isn’t a typical, boring day. I get to do all kinds of things with all kinds of incredible people. Meeting this community is amazing, and I’m getting to know a lot of the people, which is really great,” Nolt said. “I think just that I don’t have time to be bored. I’m always learning things and figuring out new things.”

Nolt’s all-time favorite genre is thriller, but she is trying to expand her taste — specifically into the realm of nonfiction — because of her involvement in selecting the annual title through the Lebanon County Reads group. She also enjoys the romance genre.

When she isn’t reading or working at the library, you might find Nolt listening to The Beatles, relaxing at the beach, or rooting for the Pittsburgh Steelers.