They say that reading a book can take you around the world.

For Darlene Weber, manager of the Mill Creek Library, that is literally true.

Weber is a world-class hiker, including numerous hiking vacations and even a hut-to-hut excursion in the Spanish Pyrenees mountains.

And how does she plan those trips?

"Well, I work at a public library and we have many guidebooks," Weber says. "(My) trips are mostly self-guided."

Weber is a 20-year veteran of the Sno-Isle Libraries district that covers most of Snohomish and all

of Island counties.

"I started as a substitute, which was great, moving around and learning about different libraries," Weber says. "Then, I was the children's librarian at Stanwood and I've been at Mill Creek for 11 years."

The Mill Creek Library is one of the busiest out of the 23 community libraries in the district. "Our children's collection circulates more than any other community library," she says.

Weber's introduction to reading came at an early age.

"I was born in Yakima, the eighth of 11 children," Weber says. "We were farmworkers, growing up in the fields."

Weber says that as soon as she could reach them, she was picking apples. And potatoes. And onions. And beets. And working in the warehouses. "We were not migrant workers. We had a home and stayed in the same place," Weber says.

In 1965, then-President Lyndon Johnson had launched his "War on Poverty" legislation that included Head Start.

"My parents enrolled me," Weber says. "Without Head Start, I would not have had the kindergarten readiness that I did. I am the first in my family to graduate from college."

Today, the Sno-Isle Libraries Wheels program visits every Head Start program and every Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program in the library district. "It does my heart good," Weber says.