Asha Verma loves to read.
The New Delhi, India, native has been reading for nearly 60 years, speaks two languages (English and Hindi) and serves as the Montgomery County Norristown Public Library’s liaison to the outside community.
The head librarian for the circulation department for the past 27 years has been immersed in books and libraries since she started in 1971 as a librarian at the T.N. Medical College in Bombay, India.
“Reading is very important in life because it empowers you,” she said. “It develops your mind and imagination. You never know which book will inspire you and enrich your life.”
A month ago, Verma was reading “The Room.” This past week she was reading “Zeitoun” by Dave Eggers.
In her liaison role she started a book club in 2000 at the library that meets on the third Saturday of the month at 2 p.m.
“I have a steady 15 people who come,” she said. “An English professor, Hal Halbert of Montgomery County Community College, leads the discussions.”
The group uses the library system’s MCLINC service to find books that have a sufficient number of copies available for the group.
Verma manages a circulation staff of nine full-time and seven part-time staff members and 14 volunteers. The scheduling to cover 11-hour work days, six days a week, requires that staff members either start early or late to run the front desk. Verma fills in at the front desk for vacationing workers and when someone calls in sick, she said. The computer lab with 16 public-use computers, donated by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is also supervised by Verma’s staff.
Verma and Laurie Tynan, the former library executive director, built the computer lab in 2002 with workers from the Montgomery County public property department.
Her second responsibility at the library is to program all the youth and adult programming each year. Youth programs range from the Anime Club and Game Day to the Early Dismissal and ‘You Tell Us’ programs during the school year and the teen summer reading program in the summer.
“If one can teach a child to enjoy books that child has a companion for life, will never be bored and will always have the knowledge they need to be successful in everything they do,” she said. “One way to foster reading in children is through setting an example of reading together.”
The adult programming includes black history, disciplining dogs, jazz, hip hop, cartooning, English conversation classes, writing workshops, chess club, Civil War, yoga and an AARP driver safety program.
“I plan at least two programs a month for adults, depending on the time of year and the subject,” she said. “In the summer we focus on the teens and in the fall we start again with programs for adults.”
In 2006, Asha was awarded the “Librarian of the Year” award by former state Sen. Connie Williams, D-17th Dist. In 2006, Williams said, “What we look for with nominees are ways the librarian has made the library experience more enjoyable and specific ways they’ve made the library better.”
Kathy Arnold-Yerger, the executive director of the library, said Verma “has it all.”
“It is all about relationships that she has formed in the community and the outside businesses,” Arnold-Yerger said. “She has helped us deal with all the organizations. This has been invaluable to us.”
Verma grew up in Mumbai, India, graduated from Bala Model High School, earned an undergraduate degree at Elphinstone College, library and master’s degrees at Bombay University and a master’s degree in library science at Villanova University in 1978. She was the second oldest of six children by Shanti Valecha and the late Chanderbhan Valecha, an officer of the Reserve Bank of India. Verma married Dr. Satya Verma in 1974 in a traditional Indian wedding with 400 guests and the couple emigrated to America in February 1975. Dr. Verma has had an optometry practice in Whitpain for 35 years and is a professor at Salus University in Elkins Park.
The couple have two daughters, Pooja D’souza and Kajal Law, and two grandchildren, Rahul D’souza, 6, and Ajay D’souza, 3.
On April 26, author Jerry Spinelli appeared at the library through a grant application written by Verma to the Pennsylvania Humanities Council. Three hundred people attended the Spinelli event, she said. The grant also paid for copies of Spinelli’s children’s novel, “Knots in My Yo-Yo Sting” for every fifth grader in the Norristown Area School District.
“Non-profits are not doing well. With the library staff shortage and the rising cost of books,” Verma said, “more people depend on the library. We have not been able to hire full-time staff.”
“I read two or three books a month. I like all kinds of books,” Verma concluded. “Elizbeth Gilberts’ “Eat, Pray, Love,” “Digging to America” by Anne Tyler and “Snow Flowers and the Secret Fan” by Lisa See. For me there is nothing like a book, leafing through the pages.”
Gary Puleo contributed to this story.
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