Wisdom Ways Library

Ann William Leech, CSJ
and the Wisdom Ways Library

If you’ve ever taken a stroll through the Carondelet Center, chances are you’re familiar with the lovely Wisdom Ways Library.  Furnished with cozy armchairs and couches, lined with tall book shelves stacked with resources ranging from Scripture Studies to Poetry, the library is a great spot to stop and unwind.  What you might not know, however, is that this literary oasis is maintained by one woman, Ann William Leech.

Ann William has been the force behind the Wisdom Ways library since the librarian position was created in 2006.  She’s put the skills that she acquired as an high school librarian on the island of Wailuku, Maui, to good use here, organizing, updating and shelving all of the material that Wisdom Ways has available for borrowers.  When she first started, Ann William says, “they just had a little book where everyone would write down their names if they took something out.  Well, that was hard to manage!”  She went through the book and the shelves, and switched everything over to index card sign-outs, a process that took a little over half a year to complete.  Now Ann William organizes and catalogues all the donations Wisdom Ways receives, and is quick to point out that they are not only books: CDs, DVDs, and audiocassettes are also welcome.

We invite you to stop by the Wisdom Ways library often, as the selection of books is always changing and growing.  Ann William recently had to rearrange a number of the shelves to make way for new donations!  Walk right up to the first floor of the Carondelet Center and sink into a lovely couch with one of her recent recommendations – At the Drop of a Veil, Marianne Alireza’s memoir of her 12 years in Saudi Arabia, or Snapdragon: The Story of John Henry Newman, or an old favorite, like Raymond Brown’s 101 Questions and Answers on the Bible.