Last updated on March 26, 2018
By Presley Green
Marguerite Voorhies has worked in the library at Volunteer State Community College since the day it opened, July 1, 1971.
She started as a reference librarian, but has worked many different positions in the library from her favorite, catalog librarian, to her current position, library associate.
She has had a diverse career at Vol State. She worked under Virginia Thigpen, the lady that the current library is named after. She oversees the law library section, although she said books about law are not her favorite reading material.
She spoke fondly of the coworkers and students she has worked with throughout the years.
“The people and students make me enjoy my job so much. Now, there is not much connection in the back, but I do try to smile at students who aren’t too busy,” she said, speaking of her workspace in the back of the library.
She has been an associate at Vol State through many changes and moves. She laughed while remembering the first library move from the administration building.
“Moving was an ordeal. We moved the books on book trucks with lots of volunteers. The whole campus was just mud. It was a rainy February,“ she said.
Voorhies shared one of her favorite books, “Black Stallion” by Walter Farley. When she was in fourth or fifth grade, she stayed up all night to finish the book, she said.
She recalled walking past the public library everyday on her walk home from school and stopping every few days when she ran out of reading material. Her summers as a child were spent reading.
Now, she does not read as much, but on her commute to her home in Colombia every weekend she listens to audiobooks.
Voorhies has rented a room from a former Vol State employee for 20 years. On the weekends, she goes to her home in Columbia where her grandnephews live. She drives home every Friday and back to Gallatin every Monday.
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