Razzle Dazzler: Tony Tallent, Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County

Tony Tallent is an unparalleled generator of ideas. As director of youth and outreach services for the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC), he rocks the library, literally. Director Charles Brown says Tallent initiated PLCMC's “first ever rocking music series for young children and their parents,” the enthusiastically received Tricycle Music Fest hyped as “Three months. Three Bands. Three Ways To Rock at the Library.”

Tallent rocks the staff, too. PLCMC's former technology director Helene Blowers says Tallent “continually engages staff in new ways and energizes them to bring youth and outreach services to a whole new level.” For example, one of his initiatives is “Drop Everything and Learn Day,” which he describes as a “learn-and-play program encouraging staff to stay curious and inspired as they learn from one another.” Play is Tallent's basic learning strategy, because, he says, it “takes the pressure off. We want learning to stick. Next, we want that stickiness to expand. Play helps us get there.”

For Tallent, the library is a place that “holds ideas and ideals for the whole community” and combines the things he loves most: “public space, art, theater, information, networking, people, literature.” But since not enough people in our community know what the library offers, he believes it's our job not only to tell them but to “put a little razzle-dazzle” in the telling.