POY Nominee — Mendocino Ellis: Always going above and beyond

“I’ve never seen anybody do so much for the children and for the community,” Deborah Jorrey said of Mendocino Ellis, whom she nominated for NLJ Person of the Year.

Ellis is the children’s librarian at the Weston County Library, a position she has held for two and a half years. According to Jorrey, as well as Gina Knight and Debra Lake, who also nominated Ellis, she has excelled in this role. However, as Ellis shared in an interview with the News Letter Journal, she kind of fell into the job by accident.

When she interviewed for a job at the library, Ellis thought it was for the page position. When then Library Director Brenda Mahoney-Ayers kept asking her questions about children and reading, Ellis didn’t think too much of it.

“She calls me a couple days later,” Ellis said, “and offers me the job to be the children’s librarian. And I went, ‘You know what, yeah.’ So, I got a job I didn’t know I was applying for.”

Ellis calls such lucky accidents “failing forward,” and given the struggles she has faced, she has learned to appreciate such opportunities. One major struggle, which she was able to finally put a name to in October, is especially relevant to her occupation. October is Dyslexia Awareness Month, and as the children’s librarian, Ellis receives literature on the condition.

“I’m reading through all these things, and I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s me.’ So I brought this to my doctor’s attention, and he said, ‘Yeah, you’ve got dyslexia.’”

Rather than dwell on her diagnosis, Ellis instead found motivation.

“I’m so excited to get dyslexic-friendly books in the library,” she said.

She explained that certain fonts, as well as the spacing between words and the contrast between the white and black on the page, makes such books easier to read for those with dyslexia.

According to Jorrey, Ellis goes beyond the duties expected of her role, such as hosting a session each Thursday where she spends time with disabled adults, reading to the attendees and/or crafting with them.

Debra Lake runs Hoover’s Peace, LLC, a Medicaid provider for
adults with intellectual disabilities. She has eight clients she brings to Ellis’s Thursday sessions, and she is very appreciative of what the librarian offers.

“(Ellis) spends hours preparing the story time and crafts,” Lake said. “When she reads the stories, the books come alive. She has a special skill and is just exceptional.”

Gina Knight and her daughter, Kristi Knight, who is one of Lake’s clients, both echoed Lake’s sentiment.

“Ellis always goes above and beyond for my daughter and her group,” Gina said.

Gina also pointed out a particular project the librarian helps the group with each year.

“(Ellis) does extra work so that they have an entry they can enter into the fair, and she helps make them feel really good about themselves,” she said.

Lake also appreciates the relaxed and inviting atmosphere Ellis has established in the children’s library.

“It’s just a fun space. We’re allowed to be loud and funny and silly and messy,” she said.

Another of Lake’s clients, Michael Lane, shared how he accidentally glued a bear to a table in the library, yet, with a smile, he added that Ellis wasn’t upset.

“She always tells them, ‘Don’t worry about it,’” Lake added.

Ellis has faced more than her fair share of adversity in life. She shared that she has survived numerous abusive relationships.

“From my parents to boyfriends to marriage after marriage after marriage, but I’ve finally figured it out, got help and got out,” she said.

She also suggested that first-time visitors to the children’s library might be surprised at her appearance.

“I’m not a traditional-looking woman,” she said. “I have no hair, and I’ve got like 13 piercings in my face. Just a little bit different.”

Suffering from a rare autoimmune disease, alopecia totalis, Ellis has been left completely without any hair. Her immune system attacks hair as though it were an invading substance. Yet the librarian has accepted this difference with grace and humility as shown by how she addresses her appearance with new child patrons.

“For the first few weeks, I ask if anybody has any questions, and then I let them come up and feel my head,” she said.

She shared an amusing question that one young visitor asked.

“He goes, ‘If you’re allergic to your hair, does it make you sneeze?’ And I thought that was the most brilliant question,” she said.

The struggles she has faced and the help she has received from others have sharpened her empathy.

“My passion is just creating that safe space for the kids,” she said. “The library was the one place I could go by myself when I was little that was safe. And now I’m able to provide that safe space for kids.”