The Raymond Village Library will be welcoming a new library director in July as well as congratulating Barbara Thorpe on her retirement, although it will be sad to see her go.

Barbara has spent the last 15 years as our library director. The term “library director” means someone who can oversee budgeting, staff management, the development of the resources available through the library known as “the collection”, and the promotion of the library within the community. And then there’s the small town library director: a person who often has to wear every one of those hats, sometimes simultaneously, because a larger library’s layers of paid staff simply don’t exist.

This means the small-town library director is not only a jack of all library trades, but also a master of them. This requires a huge amount of skill, knowledge, energy, dedication and patience. Of all the fine qualities, both professional and personal, that Barbara possesses, I would single out her “energy.”

She never asked anyone to do anything that she had not already done herself ten times over. Her drive to do anything it took to promote the library and enhance its standing in, and value to, the community is legendary. The real work, of course, was in the library itself, as seen in Barbara’s ongoing commitment to making sure you experienced what she promised in terms of services, accessibility, collections, customer service and community involvement.

As many of us know, Barbara took personalized service to a very high level, while at the same time always protecting the community’s investment in the library and being a principled supporter of the First Amendment. Beyond effective daily operations, her winning combination of courage and common sense made her voice strategically essential to the library board; and her wisdom was also sought by local and state library groups, with whom she worked tirelessly and whose praise and gratitude speaks for itself. We are so thankful for her time with us and wish her the best in whatever she chooses to do next.

Barbara has asked that we not have a party for her because that is the person that she is. She does her job with all her heart and isn? interested in any of the fuss. For all of you who have been touched by the library and by Barbara, I hope you take a few moments to stop by in June and tell Barb, thank you. Barbara, you will be missed.

Leigh Walker is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Raymond Village Library.