We’re celebrating the many ways that libraries connect us with the story of a special West Seattle patron who has used and championed library services for 30 years. Thanks to Mamata for sharing her story!
For almost 30 years, Mamata Das – educator, advocate, student, and mother – has used Library services to not only pursue her goals, but also to help her neighbors pursue theirs.
“I am an exploring person,” she says with a warm smile. “And I make connections.”
In 1997, soon after Mamata and her husband arrived in West Seattle from Bangladesh, she came across the West Seattle Branch, just a few blocks from their apartment. She loved the branch’s welcoming vibe, and was surprised that a library card was free. She began learning about Library services that could help her as she figured out life and work in a new country.
Although Mamata had earned two Bachelors’ degrees in Bangladesh, they were not recognized here. She found a job at a local McDonald’s, working in the kitchen. To practice speaking to her coworkers, she used computers at the Library to write out what she wanted to say, and Library printers to print out the scripts.
Bit by bit, it helped. She earned a promotion and found a second job as a teller at Bank of America. “I worked Monday to Friday in the bank full time and Saturday and Sunday at the McDonald’s,” she remembers.
Mamata took time off from work when her daughter was born in 2002, and became a regular at Library story time. A few years later, she found a new job and passion – early childhood education. She worked at a City of Seattle preschool, and then as an assistant at the Head Start preschool at Neighborhood House in the High Point community, which connected her to the High Point Branch.
Eventually promoted to family educator, she became an informal library ambassador at Neighborhood House, making connections, borrowing books, and making sure that families knew about the many free services that the Library offered.
When families moved on from Head Start, she’d tell the parents: “Your child is graduating now from preschool, but still you go to the Library.” She would make sure they knew about programs like story time, Museum Pass, bus vouchers, and after-school Homework Help.
“Mamata is such a library champion,” says High Point Branch children’s librarian Kristin Edstrom, who has worked with Mamata on projects such as organizing virtual story times and delivering early education packets to families during COVID.
“She’s always telling people in the community about the library, empowering people she meets to use resources that are free and accessible. She’s out there in the world trying to do good work.”
Mamata is busier than ever with her good work: She works as a pre-K instructional assistant at Seattle Public Schools while pursuing a degree in Early Childhood Education from Highline College. She earned an A.A.S. last spring – celebrating with a graduation party at the High Point Branch, of course – and will finish her B.A.S. in 2027!
Mamata is also a regular at community forums that address educational issues she’s passionate about. She’s spoken at City Council meetings, and has met Rep. Pramila Jayapal.
In the meantime, she regularly visits West Seattle library branches, and she always has time to talk to people in the community about the Library.
“I love to talk,” Mamata says. “When I take the bus, sometimes I see a new family. I tell them, that’s our library. Let’s go inside.”