A new manager at Fountain Hills Library has been named.

Marissa Dailey started the position Oct. 4, replacing Maren Hunt, who has been promoted to a regional position within the Maricopa County Library District.

Dailey said she “loves” Fountain Hills and the local library.

“The staff is fantastic, and I inherited a beautiful facility,” she said. “I am so excited to be here.”

She also commented on the Fountain Hills Friends of the Library and that group’s contributions to the library.

“They are absolutely amazing,” Dailey said. “They are so generous with their time and funding. I have really enjoyed getting to know them.

Dailey has worked at the library in Cave Creek and most recently at Perry Library in Gilbert, another MCLD branch.

She said she has enjoyed library work, and her new position is adding to her passion for the field.

“I stumbled into public libraries at Mesa Community College,” she said. “I had been in customer service my whole life. When I began working at the college library, I began providing service in a completely different way.”

She said her library work gives her the opportunity to meet the needs of the community and to provide programs of interest to all ages.

The county has been holding programs virtually since the beginning of the pandemic and continues to do that.

“We will have virtual programs until the Department of Health tells us we can open things up,” she said. “The virtual programs have been well-done and successful, so we don’t mind continuing them.”

The local branch has participated in the virtual programs and has rolled out some in-person events recently.

A “touch a truck” event is scheduled for Nov. 6 when a variety of businesses and services will have vehicles on site for families to experience.

“That will be a fun event,” Dailey said. “We’ll have a fire truck and a dump truck and other construction equipment. It should appeal to little kids for sure.”

The winter reading program gets underway in December, featuring prizes for minutes spent reading. The program is open to children and adults.

“The reading program’s primary purpose is to promote literacy,” Dailey said. “This is a really good way to inspire reading during the times when school may be out, which leads to the love of reading.

Dailey is married and has three children ages 5, 2 1/2 and 1, a girl and two boys.

“I’ll have them out here for the touch a truck event,” she said.

In her spare time, which she says isn’t plentiful, includes listening to podcasts and audiobooks and spending time with her family. Her husband, Grant McLennon, is director of operations for The Beer Research Institute in Mesa. The family lives in Tempe.