I, a young ice bear, have been on an amazing adventure to learn more about the library, and so far, I've learned a lot! For those that don't know me, I am Vanilla Ice Bear, a member of the Children's team at the Main Library. I mostly help out with Story Time with my mom [Haylee Blystone] and can be seen involved in a variety of other projects. Recently, I have been traveling around the library system to seek out the coolest employees and learn what they do. This time, we're back home and met with one of my mom's friends, Andrew Palmer. He works in the Teen Department here at Main and my mom says he does the coolest programs! Let's see what we'll learn from him!

Sitting down with Andrew Palmer

Vanilla: Hello! Thank you so much for joining me. We haven't met before, so I'll introduce myself. I'm Vanilla the Ice Bear. I work in [Main] Children's with my mom! 

Andrew: Hello, it's an honor, Mr. Vanilla. My name's Andrew [Palmer], I work in the Main Teen department. I'm an associate, which means I do a lot of programming after school and outreach, and I really love doing gaming programming, that's my kind of specialty. 

V: Okay, so you work in teens. What made you want to work with teens? Did you start out working in the teen department? 

A: No, actually, I started working in circulation just with the books and then when I wanted to do programming, I was working with adults. I would always be really jealous of what the teens were doing and what the teen librarians were doing, so I kind of got my foot in the door, started collaborating, and then before you knew it, a position opened up and I was a teen librarian. 

V: That's so cool! 

A: Yeah, that's why I still do my adult book club, because I couldn't let that one go. 

V: That makes sense. 

A: Yeah!

V: Wow, it's all coming together, that's so cool. 

[Andrew laughs]

V: So you started out in adult, did you start at Main or were you at a different location? 

A: I bounced around branches, but I spent the most amount of time at the Bellevue branch. That's where I worked as an Adult Associate and then transferred to the teen department there at Bellevue and then came down to the main library because I heard there was a lot of fun stuff happening down here. 

V: This is where all the cool stuff happens, or at least it used to. It might look a little different now, post-fire. 

A: We still have fun stuff! Let that be on record. 

[Vanilla laughs]

V: So you've been all over the place! That makes it seem like you've probably worked here for a while. How long have you worked for Nashville Public Library? 

A: Yes, Mr. Vanilla, I am old. 

V: I didn't say that!

[Andrew laughs]

A: I have worked for Nashville Public Library now for 10 years. 

V: 10 years?!

A: This is my 10th year. 

V: Did you get a pin? Did you get a 10-year pin? 

A: Not yet. Hopefully someone will read this blog and ship me a pin. 

V: When's your anniversary? 

A: January 6th. 

V: Wow, 10 years! So, you've probably done a lot of really, really cool stuff here. So, what is one of your favorite things that you've gotten to do in adult or teen? 

A: Well, the two biggest things I'm known for is my adult book club called Books and Brews, where we meet out in the neighborhood and we talk about one book a month. So that is my literary side of programming, but then when I started working with teens, I would talk about how much I love this game, Dungeons and Dragons, and the kids really wanted to play. And so, I was like, well, I will do a program. If you guys come, we'll keep doing it. And that was eight years ago. Since then, Dungeons and Dragons has become a staple teen, adult, and children's program.

V: We know a little bit about Dungeons and Dragons in the children's department. 

A: Y'all know how to roll some dice. 

[Vanilla laughs]

V: We know a little bit, mostly about Overdue Adventures. My mom's a part of that! Oh, you're also part of that!

[Andrew laughs]

A: Yeah. I am, I'm kind of a big deal on Overdue Adventures, just meaning that I'm the storyteller or the dungeon master, the one who makes the story and leads the characters or the players through the big story. 

V: So arguably like the most important role. 

A: You could say that. 

V: My mom says that, so I will say that!

A: Okay, your mom might say that, but I'm too modest.

V: I mean, being humble is a good quality to have. So the people at home know you're very modest, very humble. But you should brag about that because you're the one that planned the story! Like season one, you wrote the script or …? 

A: Yes, I used one of the books in our collection called Ghosts of Saltmarsh and it was a very spooky kind of pirate on the high seas, skeletons, ghost ships, et cetera. I love that kind of storytelling and so I use that as a base to plot my adventures for my players. The fun thing with Dungeons and Dragons is you get to make every story your own. 

V: Yeah, so you had to put in some creative work with that. I'm sure you were, I mean, I've seen Overdue Adventures, so the minis, you did that. The boat set, did you do that too? 

A: Yeah, I built all those little sets for the miniatures to kind of give a better view of what was happening in the story. Just like in story time for little children, you have a picture book, you have pictures to go with the story. When you play Dungeons and Dragons, even if you're with adults, you can have these little miniatures to have a 3D picture of what's going on. It's really fun to build and yeah, adds a lot more creative expression to the storytelling. 

V: That's true! Watching it, it made me feel like I was really there seeing the boat and seeing all the little minis, like the attention to detail was really nice. So, knowing that it was you that did that, it's like, we know a celebrity now, it's crazy!

A: Wow, I felt like I was meeting a celebrity, Mr. Vanilla himself. So, I appreciate the gloating and the fanfare. 

V: I just think it's so cool how much work you put into it, because for people like my mom, she just had to show up. For the PCs, the players, you don't have to do anything really but show up and make sure you know the plot kind of. So, knowing how much work that you're putting into it, it just shows how much you care about this, and I think that's so cool!

A: Yeah, it helps that it's a lot of fun to do and we get to do it with our friends. 

V: That does help!

A: One of my favorite things is when I realize, no matter how much preparation I put into the story, it's not like reading a book to your friends because your friends are the main characters and they get to do stuff that surprises you as the storyteller. So that adds a fun, collaborative, creative side to it. 

V: That's true! We won't give away too much about that. You'll have to watch season one and season two when it comes out. Is there going to be a season two?

A: Yes, it is official. There will be a season two, and we may or may not have already started filming. 

V: May or may not, okay.

[Both laugh]

A: Follow NPL on YouTube. Or the podcast. It's a podcast too. 

V: Shout out NECAT! I think I shout out NECAT like every blog. 

A: NECAT is dope. 

V: They're just the best, and the people that work there are the best! 

A: Agreed.

V: Okay, let's circle back, we kind of briefly mentioned that Main was closed. Where were you stationed when the Main Library was closed? 

A: Yeah, it was so sad when the Main Library closed. It was an unfortunate event, but I got to hang out with a lot of cool people. I spent most of my time at the Watkins Park Library, which is right across the street from MLK High School, where I already worked with a lot of those teens. So, I got to see some familiar faces and got to hang out with the staff there who are incredible. I then also worked at the Bordeaux Branch and got to hang out with that crew for a little bit before coming back to the Maine Library.

V: Okay, so that worked out. You got to see familiar faces. So it was kind of like a home away from home in a way, but what was it really different from Main? Like Main's huge. Is Watkins Park big? 

A: Not at all. Watkins Park is the smallest library branch in the NPL system. 

V: Wait, is it really? 

A: It really is. 

V: I thought that was Looby!

A: No, Looby is bigger than Watkins Park. If you go to Watkins Park, it's connected to the community centers, similar to Looby, but the connection is much smaller. But they make a lot out of the small space and the small staff, and there's some big personalities that fit in that building, mainly the teens who come after school. 

V: So, does Watkins Park get a lot of teens? Is that the main demographic or a little bit of everything? 

A: A little bit of everything. During the school hours, they'll get community members needing to use the computers or young children needing to get their story time books. But yeah, once it's after school, it gets really busy and a little bit louder than most libraries want to be. So that was one of my main duties was reminding teens to keep their voices down, even though they were having a lot of fun on the computers and hanging out together. 

V: That is the hard part about being a library. You want to see everyone being loud and happy, but you have to remember that it is still a library and there are people working. Like that's the beauty of Main Children's. We have doors, so it kind of traps all the fun in so the people outside can do their business stuff while the kids can still run around and play and shriek a little bit. 

A: Same thing happens here in the teen department. Maybe a little less shrieking, but still quite a bit of yelling.

V: It's happy shrieking! The kids get so excited that they have to scream. 

A: That's a good problem to have!

V: It's a good problem. It does kind of alarm you sometimes if you're not expecting it. 

A: Yeah. I mean, you're a bear of sensitivity, so I believe it's difficult to hear a human shrieking suddenly. 

V: Yes, my supersonic bear hearing just can't handle it. 

A: Yeah, I forgot. All that fur captures all the sound waves.

[Both laugh]

V: So, you got to be at Watkins Park. You got to be at Bordeaux. I don't know a lot about Bordeaux, but are you happy to be back now that Main has opened its doors? 

A: Yeah, of course! I miss all the people that I worked with out in the branches, and I've spent pretty much half of my time at National Public Library in branches and the other half at Main, so it's split pretty evenly, so I don't necessarily have a preference. There's benefits to both sides, but I am happy to have my own office again. 

V: That's for sure. 

A: My whole car was just packed to the brim with Dungeons and Dragons materials. I would open the doors and dice would just fall out of my car. 

V: My mom’s car was the same! She had so much D&D stuff in there and then at one point, I was in the car too! While at Donelson, we had no room and so poor me, I had to be in the car for a while. 

A: Were the windows up? 

V: No, she cracked the window, obviously. 

[Andrews breathes a sigh of relief]

A: She’s a good mom. 

V: I was fine, but definitely happy to be back at Main, back in my regular spot. 

A: It's like coming home after a vacation that went on a bit longer than you expected. You're happy to be home sleeping in your own bed. 

V: A very long vacation.

A: A cool vacation. 

V: We got to meet really cool people!

A: A nine-month long vacation. Very glad to be back. 

V: Very glad to be back. 

[Both laugh]

That's Magic, Baby!

V: So, let's transition a little into specifically what kind of stuff you're doing for the teens. 

A: Yeah, so here at the downtown branch, I still do my monthly D&D club. We play Dungeons and Dragons once a month for afterschool programming. During the summer, I'll usually have a couple days set aside for Dungeons and Dragons and I even have a newsletter called The Quest Board that you can email me and get added onto the list. Every month I'll shout out all the different gaming programs happening here at NPL. I also recently got into, my teens got me into Magic the Gathering, so I've been doing a lot of deck building and card trading with my teens. We usually play two to three games a week, which is really fun. 

V: Dang! 

A: I've now incorporated Magic the Gathering into my regular scheduled programming, which is fun. 

V: That's the way to do it. 

A: Yeah, it's really cool to look at the artwork on the little cardboard cards and then know that they can obliterate your opponents. 

V: Yeah, they're very cute. You know, I recently got into Magic as well. 

A: Wow, Mr. Vanilla!

V: Yeah, guess my favorites. 

A: I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say Bears. 

V: What? That's crazy! Yes. 

A: I can't believe I guessed that!

[Both laugh]

V: For the people that don't know, not familiar with Magic, there are all kinds of Magic cards. There are superheroes. There are pop culture ones. There are cutesy little forest animals like bears. And there's big, scary, gross stuff too. 

A: There's horrors beyond your reckoning, but there's also dinosaurs. 

V: There's My Little Pony!

A: There's My Little Pony. SpongeBob is in there somewhere. There's something for everybody. 

V: There is something for everyone!

A: There's everything from scary vampires and zombies to really cute bunnies and squirrels. Well, the squirrels can be scary sometimes. 

V: The squirrels can be scary.

[Vanilla and Andrew share a secret evil laugh]

V: I think that's so cool that your patrons came in, expressed an interest in something, and instead of sending them somewhere else, you're like, I'm gonna get into it and provide that service for the people already coming in. I guess it worked out that you ended up liking it, but I think that's a really cool way to do programs.

A: Yeah, we often will do surveys and just have conversations with our teens to see what their interests are, and we will kind of shape and mold our programming around those. There are still programs that we do to try to teach and introduce students to new things. So sometimes we'll do topics and trivia, things like that to make sure there's still a learning aspect, not that there isn't learning incorporated in Dungeons and Dragons and Magic the Gathering and in those games, but a little bit more real world, nonfiction type of learning we do. 

V: Put some intentional literacy behind it. But D&D and Magic do offer its own learning opportunities. D&D has a lot of math that you wouldn't think just playing it, you're like, oh, it's just fantasy role play. No, there's some math. And Magic has a lot of math too, actually. 

A: Yeah, a lot of these games that seem just kind of artful and creative on the outside have a lot of complex logistics to them and game mechanics. 

V: And strategy!

A: And strategy. The cool thing with Dungeons and Dragons is that it's a more collaborative experience where the players are facing a sim, like one evil or entity or bad guy. But in Magic, you're kind of battling each other so we get some of our competitive nature out for those events. Speaking of competitions, the last type of programming I do is my video game programming. And we just finished our Nashville Public Library Systemwide Super Smash Bros Tournament. 

V: So, Systemwide, like all 21 locations?

A: There's 21 locations?

V: Yeah!

A: I wish, I both wish and I'm very glad that all 21 locations did not participate. We had three branches, Southeast, Bellevue, and East Branch. Oh, four. Edge Hill also participated and here at the Downtown Library, we had qualifying rounds at all those branches and then we hosted our finals at the Donelson Branch. So, it was a really fun collaborative experience to work with other teen librarians and teen staff to get to the final three. We did the finals this last Saturday [4/18/26] and it was really fun. We met up, we hosted it for like three hours, we had free pizza, and we did several rounds of Smash where it went from like groups narrowing down to the finals to different challenges that we gave them. So, it wasn't just the back-and-forth fights. Then it all cultivated in the final two, having a best of three, one V one battle. 

V: So, what branch won? What representative won for their branch? 

A: You know, I do have a bit of pride for my downtown library Main teens because we sort of swept the top three. We got all top three spots. I will say the secondary bracket, some people call it the loser's bracket, but we wanted to be a little nicer. The secondary bracket did go to the East branch. So, congrats to them!

V: Okay. And none of those locations are very close together. So, like, even though it wasn't all 21 locations, you got most of the areas because Bellevue is very far from Donelson. 

A: It is, and we had two from Bellevue. So, they made their trek all the way to the Donelson branch and we were so excited to have them participate.

V: That's so cool!

A: Yeah! So, the teens all got to meet new like-minded teens and hang out with some of their already made friends and kind of share this interest together. Then afterwards, they just played casual games for about an hour and a half.

V: So they made friends?

A: Yeah, they made friends. 

V: I love that!

A: Yeah, it was really fun. 

V: And you got to collaborate with the other teen associates? Were there any L2s or anything or was it just all associates? 

A: Yeah, Paige at Southeast, I think, is a Librarian.

V: I think they're a two. 

A: Yep, and Cole is a Librarian 1 at Bellevue. At Edgehill, I worked with Matt Johnston, who's, I think, an associate.

V: I think so. 

A: And then at East, we actually collaborated with NPL Studio’s Mariano. 

V: Studio's so amazing! There's a quick shout out to Studio. They helped us with our D&D camp last year. So, you know, shout out!

A: They do amazing work. 

V: If you want a really cool resin miniature for your D&D campaign, hit them up!

A: Wow, Vanilla, I can't believe you knew that. That's awesome! 

V: Yeah, I’m a well-connected bear.

A: I guess so. I'll have to read these other interviews. 

V: You haven't read my blog!

A: It's on the list. My book club meets this Saturday, so all my spare time goes to listening to my audio book of the book I'm covering on Double Speed. 

V: Do you want to share what the book is? 

A: Yeah, it's a book called Crow Talk. I don't recall the author right now, but it's a very lived-in, very atmospheric kind of story that follows a couple of unlikely friends that are made in this really small town in the state of Washington, kind of very rural lake town. And there's a lot about birds in it, too. 

V: Okay! 

A: No bears, so far. 

V: No bears, not interested. And this is an adult book? 

A: This is an adult book. 

V: Yeah, I don't know if I’m at that level yet.

A: Yeah, that's all right. 

V: One day!

A: Yeah, one day, you'll get to join my book club and play magic with me. 

V: Once I'm of age, I will come do that. 

A: Please do. Maybe your mom can come to my book club. I've heard she doesn't read that many books for adults. 

V: She only reads manga. 

A: That, as a teen librarian, I can't fault that, but I think you've got to throw in a chapter book here every now and again. 

V: We work in children's, we like pictures, okay, you know? The pictures get us through.

[Both laugh]

V: What is the coolest thing you've done in the last year is? 

A: I think what we've already talked about would qualify. It would have to be a tie between releasing season one of Overdue Adventures and then doing the Super Smash Tournament that just involves so many people, and people got excited about it, and the kids got excited for it. So those are probably the biggest things that I've done, the most exciting. The cool thing with Overdue Adventures is that there's record of it. It just lives on our podcast and on our YouTube channels, so people can enjoy it at any time. But there is something to say about an event where people gather and then, you know, all good things come to an end. 

V: I love a tournament! I want to do a tournament in Children’s since we got a Switch 2. 

A: Ooh, that's exciting!

V: We could do like a Mario Kart thing, but we need more tweens to come in. So maybe a collaboration between our departments!

A: Edgehill had a lot of tweens. The winner ended up being 12, which is the qualifying age for the teen center. He was invited to the finals, but wasn't able to make it out, but it was mainly tweens between eight and 11 years old. Okay, so maybe some collaboration between our departments. 

V: That could be cool! 

[Andrew laughs]

V: Okay, so we're reaching the end of the interview, but do you have any future plans? Anything you got going on in the future you'd like to share with the people? 

A: Yeah, I think I want to do more tournaments. I've met with a few other librarians who want to start doing Magic the Gathering. It feels like when I started Dungeons & Dragons, the earlier years, a few librarians would reach out to me because I became known as the D&D guy. Now we do D&D programming all around the system and I feel like that's happening now with Magic the Gathering, the fun card game. 

V: You're a trendsetter. 

A: I am. I'm always on that wave as it's developing and let's see if it takes over. I know they already do Pokemon a lot out at the Thompson Lane branch.

V: I didn't know that! Pokemon's hard to get into. It's kind of complicated. 

A: They have a lot of free cards, and they do a lot of programs where they create their own artwork for Pokemon cards. 

V: Oh, that's so cool!

A: M from Studio might be collaborating with me to do something similar, but with Magic cards soon. 

V: Let me know, let me know!

A: I'm excited for more Magic cards because they're just fun to look at and build decks and build strategies, but we can also do more community things like tournaments similar to the Super Smash Bros Tournament and do more collaborations between the adults and teens and teens and children's similar to what we've done with D&D in the past. 

V: Yeah, I think that's one of the best things that's come out of Main being closed is that we have had a lot of opportunity to collaborate with other departments or even other branches we wouldn't normally get to collaborate with. And then we get to carry those back with us to Main and then continue collaborating. 

A: So that's exciting. 

V: So expect more nerd stuff in the future. Got it. 

A: More nerdy competitions. Yes. There's not really a way to do a D&D tournament nor would I ask that of anyone. 

V: Any more than six people and it's a lot. 

A: It's a slog, yeah. 

V: Okay, well, before we say goodbye, any last things you wanna say? 

A: Well, if you're a patron and any of these programs sounded neat or if you know any teens that these programs would be of interest, just let them know! Our doors are always open to teens only. 

V: Teens only! Children can come into the Children's department. 

[Both laugh]

A: Other than that, if you're a library worker or you do community programming, collaborating with other staff members and other departments usually leads to more good outcomes than bad. 

V: Yes, don't be afraid to be a little nerdy at the library, right? 

A: Be a little nerdy, you never know what friends you'll make. 

V: Exactly!

[Both laugh]

V: Okay, thank you so much. This was awesome!

A: Thank you, Mr. Vanilla. I'm kind of scared to shake your paw. You have kind of big claws. 

V: I’m just a baby. 

A: Oh, you're just a baby bear, okay. I like your cowboy boots.