BY TRACY LEE TATE
Special to the Times
When Union County Library Director Mary Brown spoke to the Union County Board of Commissioners at their May 20, 2024 meeting, she told them that it would be her last official visit to one of their meetings
Following that announcement, commissioners made a few comments about how deeply she will be missed and how she was, for many county residents, THE Librarian, the one they had known their whole life.
“To me you are the library,” Commission Chairman Channing Dobbs told Brown. “I remember when I was small coming to see you and now, I still am and am bringing my children. We will all miss you.”
Brown said that was one of her joys during her latter years as director – seeing people she had worked with in youth programs in years past now bringing their children in to see Miss Mary and participate in the library’s youth programs and story time. And she said they seemed to remember her fondly.
Interestingly, that was how Brown got her start at the library – she started in 1993 in a position creating children’s programming.
“I love all the facets of my job, but my heart has always been in youth services,” Brown said.
Brown became director a few years later, when the New River Library Cooperative was being formed in 1997 and the current director left the library to head up the Co-op. When Brown started the Library was located in the building that now is home to the Supervisor of Elections Office, on Main St. in Lake Butler. Now, the library is still in Lake Butler, but it has moved a few blocks into its own new (2009) building. Brown worked tirelessly to help raise funds to cover the new library – holding raffles for donated items and even taking a few turns in a dunking booth.
“The new building was many years in the making,” Brown said. “There was fundraising, grants, in kind labor – it was a total community effort, and everyone did what they could.”
Brown said many of the highpoints in her life occurred during her time as director.
“I went to college, raised a family of three children, was active with the Red Cross for about 12 years and headed up Toys for Kids for about 20 years.”
Now, Brown has two grandchildren, with whom she wants more time. She said a seven-year-old girl and a one-year-old boy were more than enough to keep her occupied when she had grandma duty.
Brown’s official retirement date is July 1, 2024, but it is an action she has long been planning for.
“I spent years convincing myself to retire,” Brown said. “When I finally came around to the idea, I spent time to pave the way for a smooth transition to a new director. I out my heart and soul into it. This has never been just a job to me, it is a passion and walking away will be one of the hardest things I have ever done.”
Brown said she had seen many changes in her time as a library director. She said that from her beginning there were no computers in the library, but she said she soon saw the future being different and always worked towards bringing in public access computers.
“I saw it coming,” she said, “and we ended up being one of the top three libraries in the state to get Internet access. The Gates Foundation provided the public access computers.”
Brown said that she saw the advent of e-books as well, and the library offers patrons access to more e-books than it has regular books on the shelves, as well as offering access to a number of accurate databases for research, some with vetted articles. Still, she does not believe that “hold-in-your-hand” books will ever go away, or at least anytime soon.
“Children will still need books, for themselves and for story-time with someone reading to them,” Brown said.
Brown has seen tremendous change in the library but said the most important things have not changed.
“Our programs have remained solid,” Brown said. “People still need people and the library is a good place to meet. We have always been a community based library. We now stand with an 80% approval rate with the voters in the county. We have been written up in a national magazine (about the library industry). This makes it easy for me and all of my staff to serve the community to the best of our ability.”
Brown seems to have a talent for finding things that will be popular, or very necessary. She has helped create a number of highly creative children’s programs that leave kids (and sometimes parents) begging for more. She said that one of her favorites was called “Library Rocks” and featured all of the staff dressed up as rock-and-roll superstars. She was Elvis.
One of her most challenging tasks was to devise a program that would allow patrons some form of library access during the COVID-19 epidemic, where libraries and other public gathering places were closed. She though that having books to read would help people ride out the isolation forced on them…and she turned out to be right.
“I had to think outside the box on that one,” Brown said. “For kids, we stepped up our online offerings and developed kits with the materials for the programs that could be picked up without parents having to come inside. Then we started the drive-thru library. Patrons could call ahead and order the books they knew they wanted to read and talk to the staff for recommendations on other books that they might like or need. So, we started, and the cars lined up. The books were sanitized between patrons and everything went well. As is often the case, my staff and I decided to have a little fun with it as well – we all dressed up as superheroes and other characters to stand outside and allow patrons to check out and return books.”
Union County Public Library was one of the first libraries in the state to reopen, thanks to this program. But, “some days it felt like we were on a roller coaster,” Brown said.
Brown said she plans an active retirement with her husband, Richard, who retired several years ago. She is an avid disc golf player and wants to help grow the sport. She also wants to learn to play pickleball, travel some, maybe some cruises, and enjoy her family. She said she had a lifetime of memories from her work, feeling that she could write a book if so inclined, and that many of these memories made her smile.
The library is ready for the coming transition – Brown has been working for several years, training staff and caching ideas to let the new director get up to speed. That won’t take long, because the Board of Commissioners hired Brown Assistant, Pretti McNutt, as her successor – a roll Brown has been grooming her for. So, there will still be a familiar face at the library, who knows the patron’s names and remembers their tastes in reading. And no one knows when “Miss Mary” might drop in to see old friends. The summer programs are planned, Brown said it is always a big deal to plan and get ready for these.
The library is ready, the staff well trained and all of them love the library and the people they serve. It may take a little getting used to, but once the dust settles it should be business as usual. Brown will be missed and remembered by all, but change is progress and the library is all about that.
Have a wonderful time, Mary, but remember us and that we will all miss you!
