Congratulations to Beinecke’s own Molly Wheeler, featured “player” in this week’s New Haven Living

PLAYERS: Librarians, By Todd Lyon  |  Photos by Nick Caito

The modern librarian is like a multi-armed deity. Perched at the center of a universe of data, these gods and goddesses of knowledge gather, package and disperse inspiration and ideas. Our city is a Mecca for book-lovers’ book-lovers: Yale University alone has an estimated 173 librarians on its payroll. Really!

Molly Wheeler: Archivist, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University

The exuberant Wheeler holds aloft a vintage film can, a symbol of a recent project: organizing, preserving and digitizing the work of Solomon Sir Jones, an African-American minister whose 16mm films provided a rare glimpse into the black experience of the 1920s. “I’m sort of the A/V person at the Beinecke,” says Wheeler. But the New Hampshire native also has the privilege of working closely with “primary source” materials, often unpublished, of such luminaries as William Carlos Williams. “I grew so fond of him, as a poet, a mentor and a doctor,” she recalls. The Beinecke is closing in 2015 for renovations; when it reopens, it will be “more of a research center” with improved access to its vast resources and collections. Desert island book: “Carrington: Letters and Extracts from Her Diaries”