Librarian Jeff Turner has been growing out his beard for almost 10 years to the point of where it has stopped growing entirely .

Due to its length, he’s been nicknamed “the Wizard,” “Gandalf” or “Santa Claus.”

“They don’t bother me at all,” Turner said. “Some of them are really funny.”

Turner had transferred to Bellaire High School from Westbriar Middle School by the district after the previous librarian, Kaitlyn Carpenter, received a job at St. Thomas University. After his arrival, Turner said he has had positive first impressions.

“Everyone has been so welcoming,” Turner said. “The faculty and the students have just been really nice to me, coming in and talking and just getting to know me.”

Turner frequently interacts with students in order to offer suggestions for new reads, answer questions about their homework or help print out assignments. Turner sees this as the brightest part of his job.

“I tell everyone I have the best job in school, because I love what I do,” Turner said. “I love moments when I can give a student the information that they need to hear at that moment, whatever they may be going through, because people need different bits of information at different parts of their lives.”

In addition to working with students, Turner often works with other teachers to bolster their lessons. Usually, Turner teaches students how to access free online databases provided by HISD, like Gale, which provides accurate information.

“Working with students gives you a sense of accomplishment in that you’re sharing how to do something with a student who may not know what particular topic that they’re researching,” Turner said. “They may not know a lot about it, and you are able to share that information with them. I enjoy helping students do whatever they need to do to become more successful in their school life.”

Additionally, Turner is also in charge of acquiring new books for the library, currently working to recover lost or damaged books. Turner uses lists from organizations like the American Library Association and the American Association of School Libraries to find new recommendations.

“Some other decisions are people that come in and say, ‘Oh, Mr. Turner, can you order this book? It’s really good,’” Turner said. “I’ll then find it online and see if I can find some positive reviews and if it’s appropriate for our school.”

For Turner, there wasn’t a specific defining moment that cemented his love for working as librarian. By collecting memories with parents, students and teachers, Turner is reminded that he is on the right track.

“Somebody told me, when I first started teaching 38 years ago, get a folder, and every time you get something positive or something that brings good thoughts, put it in that folder,” Turner said. “Every time that I feel like I need a little push or some encouragement, I’ll go through and read through that.”

This career hasn’t always been Turner’s first choice. Originally from Ninety Six, South Carolina, he started as a teacher at East End Elementary School and later at Southside Middle School, teaching English and history before being approached by his principal. He has been a librarian for 29 years.

“She wanted me to make the library an important place in the school,” Turner said. “I think because I had some really good relationships with parents of students, was very supportive and had a history of doing lots of stuff in the classroom, she thought that that would carry over to the library as well.”

Turner had moved to Houston after being offered a job and had flown out for the interview. While Turner was used to a small-town lifestyle in South Carolina, he was ready for something different.

“Houston, being the fourth largest city in the nation, there were just a lot of things to do,” Turner said. “It’s a great place to be a jump-off point or vantage point for travel because of the airports here. I chose to stay, because there’s so much here, and it allowed me to really enjoy life.”

Despite having never lived away from home, Turner still believes his decision to move to and stay in Texas was one of his proudest moments.

“I guess I kind of taught myself a lesson that if I can move halfway across the continent with absolutely no one here and thrive, then that was a really good decision,” Turner said. “It was scary, but it was so worth it, and it has become so worth it. One thing that I have never regretted in my life is moving here and doing what I’m doing and thriving here.”

Library workers Sebastiaan Blog and Joey Viveros, who help organize books and clean the library, believe that Turner “brought life” to the library with his decorations and personality.

“He keeps the blinds up all the time, so there’s plenty of light,” Blog and Viveros said. “He talks to the kids and helps them find what they really need to be reading. He puts up all his trinkets to make his workspace more friendly. More kids wouldn’t be here during lunch without him.”

Since meeting Turner, Viveros said he admires how easy Turner is to converse with.

“During my first impression of him, he wasn’t trying to talk to us, he wanted us to talk to him,” Viveros said. “I feel like he’s more of a listener, so a lot of people can feel very comfortable.”

In addition to his “friendly and warm personality,” Blog also admires Turner’s wisdom.

“I feel like he’s traveled a lot,” Blog said. “Whenever I ask him something, he doesn’t have to think about it, because he’s traveled between so many places.”

Traveling frequently both domestically and internationally, Turner has been to Japan, France, Italy, Switzerland, Peru, Venezuela, Aruba and the Bahamas.

“I’ve said this quote for years, and it’s a quote by Mark Twain,” Turner said. “It starts off saying, ‘Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow mindedness,’ and that’s so true, because when people travel, they lose all of their other narrow mindedness and prejudices that they have because they see this is how the world is. Traveling has changed my way of thinking of how other people in other areas of the world react to different things.”

Turner sees traveling as a learning experience for himself, opening him up to new perspectives from cultures that are different from American culture.

“Every place that you go will give you something different that you take away from,” Turner said. “For example, Japan is one of the places where you can go, and the culture is so different that you can’t figure out what anything is, so Japan is a very favorite place that I have loved.”

Even though he has experienced several different countries all around the globe, Turner values the time he spends with his family and friends the most. In Turner’s eyes, his family and friends are the reason he works hard at his job and strives to do better everyday.

“I miss them, and it’s always special when we do get together,” Turner said. “It’s important for everyone to build your own network of people that you look up to because those people are always going to be there for you. They’re going to make you feel like you need to go the extra mile because there are some days where you just don’t want to do anything. But then when you think of those people that have constantly supported you, that just really hits it home to you or to me, that I need to be on top of my job, because people are expecting this from me, and I owe them the best that I can do.”