Danielle Haubrich, or “Miss Danielle,” as the locals know her, is a children’s librarian who specializes in the “children” aspect.
Growing up in Edgewater Park is where Haubrich discovered her passion for dedicating her time to children. She babysat and worked at summer camps and daycares all through her teenage years.
“Pretty much all of my work experience has been with children,” Haubrich said.
After graduating from Holy Cross Academy in Delran, Haubrich went on to study speech pathology and audiology at Towson University in Baltimore.
After obtaining her bachelor’s of science degree, she went on to study library science as a part of Drexel’s graduate school program.
This was the perfect fit for her while she was living in Wildwood Crest and working at the Cape May County Library, because there were no other schools that offered a master’s of library and information science degree within driving distance of the Shore, so an online program was the most convenient option.
Being a librarian entails more schooling than most people would imagine, as Haubrich had to earn her master’s degree before officially becoming one.
She is also a well-traveled individual. Before finding her home in Marlton and working at the Pinelands Branch Library in Medford, Haubrich spent a year in San Diego and has driven across the country three times. Her favorite place to stop is the Outer Banks in North Carolina.
“It took me awhile to figure out what I really wanted to do. I always knew that I wanted to work with children in some capacity,” Haubrich said.
At first, she thought she wanted to be a classroom teacher, and then she thought she wanted to be a speech pathologist, but when the idea of being a children’s librarian finally came to her, she knew it was the perfect fit.
“Kids are just so much fun! As the old saying goes ‘choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.’ I feel like this is so true. I genuinely love what I do and have fun every day,” Haubrich said.
She has now been a children’s librarian for eight years.
When she is not at the library working with kids, she is at home raising her own 1-year-old daughter with her husband Mike.
Haubrich has embraced the mom role with open arms as she focuses on spending time with her daughter and husband in her spare time. She also enjoys cooking and baking for them as she is always looking for new recipes. Her favorite at the moment is roasted butternut squash with Papa Joe’s Salt, a homegrown recipe that originated locally in Medford Lakes.
“I find both cooking and yoga to be very calming, relaxing and meditative activities,” Haubrich said.
She picked up yoga during her pregnancy when she started taking classes at The Sanctuary for Yoga in Medford.
Though it is now hard to find time to continue the classes with her daughter here, Haubrich continues to practice yoga at home.
She has also been searching for a little extra energy after a family vacation to California has left her and the family with a bit of jet lag.
After being a green tea girl her whole life, she has recently gotten into drinking mocha-flavored lattes from Harvest Coffee — one of the local stores that allows her to enjoy the fall season and the town of Medford just that much more.
“I love the sense of community here. The Halloween Parade, the Dickens Festival, the 4th of July Fireworks, there are so many wonderful community-wide events,” Haubrich said. “I’m also excited to see how much Main Street has been revitalized recently. It has come a long way in the last six years since I started working at the Pinelands Library.”
She plans to turn those six years into many more as she and librarian Rick Yankosky continue to grow the Pinelands Library into a hotspot for kids in Medford.
To learn more about the Burlington County Library System or to check out the events that Miss Danielle and Mr. Rick host, visit www.bcls.lib.nj.us.
