The third installment in a series of stories chronicling the outside lives of Northeastern’s librarians.

From her third floor administrative office in Snell Library to the Somerville community access channel on the small screen, Research and Instruction Librarian and Advancement Program Manager Maria Carpenter believes in reaching out to the people.

“I am very close to things for the people,” Carpenter said. “Just like public libraries are there for everyone to expand their knowledge base, I see community access as an extension of that.”

Over the last year and a half, Carpenter has produced four episodes of her show, “The Bonafide Librarian,” for her local Somerville television station. The program is billed as a guide to “books, bands and all things bonafide,” but Carpenter reveals an additional motive in one of her episodes.

“There are a lot of stereotypes we all know are still out there about librarians,” she said. “I thought it would be really fun to showcase what librarians do outside of work.”

For Carpenter, her outside interests cover a broad spectrum including community theatre, recycling programs, acoustic rock music and fashion, in addition to book clubs and library work. And with each interest, she said she tries to bring the experience to the public.

“I’m a dabbler, I love new experiences,” Carpenter said. “I don’t think it’s different for me – my work and what I do on the side – I still feel like I’m making an impact where I can.”

She first broke into broadcast with her friend Rana Black on the community-based rant and rave show, “What’s Ya’lls Problem?!” While Black said she herself did most of the on-camera work, she has respect for Carpenter’s natural abilities.

“She was a natural; she picked it up really quickly,” Black said. “She’s very people-oriented. If she could make her living meeting people and talking to them, she would.”

So far, she has kept many of her recent projects closely tied to her hometown of Somerville. She helped produce local theatre in a group dubbed “The Pothole Players,” which aimed to bring theatre to the community with low-cost, low-spectacle performances. She dons a garbage bag-cape and cleaning gloves to promote recycling and features local acoustic acts on her show.

Carpenter’s dedication to public service is what she said initially drew her to library work.

“I’ve always loved libraries, but I don’t think I was consciously aware I was meant to be a librarian for a while,” she said.

Carpenter, a Connecticut native, began her work at Northeastern in July 2001 after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh. She moved into library administration a year and half later.

“I love it here; I look forward to coming to work almost every day,” she said. “Working with students is great.”

Carpenter also contributes to the Northeastern community by sitting on the Asian American Center board of advisors.

“She’s creative and has a lot of ideas,” said Andrew Shen, director of the Asian American Center. “And she has the content to back it up.”

In hopes of continuing to bring more librarians into the spotlight, Carpenter is hoping to film segments for her show at upcoming librarian conferences, including a segment on librarians’ shoes.

But when contemplating the future of “The Bonafide Librarian,” Carpenter said she plans to keep it just a hobby.

“I really see it as a creative outlet more than anything else,” she said. “Who knows? Maybe in ten years, I’ll be doing something else on the side.”

She may find herself exploring other avenues as she rattles off some of her aspirations, including living abroad and writing a play.

Coupled with her creative nature, Black said part of Carpenter’s success can be attributed to her openness.

“She has good ideas and she’s willing to try them,” Black said.

One of those ideas is Carpenter’s latest brainchild to further expand librarians’ influence: Citizen librarians.

“They’d be volunteer librarians who would sit at caf