Longtime Library Director Announces Retirement – Brattleboro’s Public Library to Seek New Leader

Brattleboro VT – The Brattleboro Town Manager and the Brooks Memorial Library Board of Trustees jointly announced today that Jerry Carbone, Library Director of Brooks Memorial Library, has submitted a letter of intention to retire in December 2015.

Carbone, 64, will be stepping down after 37 years at the venerable institution, 22 as director. He is the 13th library professional to hold the post at the library that bears the name of George J. Brooks, who built and gave the original library building to the citizens of his adopted town.

“I’ve often thought that Brattleboro must be the best place in Vermont to be a library director,” noted Carbone. “The community is highly literate, well-read and demanding of quality collections. It supports and values what we do day in and year out.”

During his time leading the staff and volunteers at the 75,000-volume institution – the largest public library in southern Vermont — Carbone has seen much change. He brought the library into the digital age with public access computers, an online catalog, electronic databases and downloadable eBooks. In 2001 he won a 3-year grant from the Freeman Foundation and with his team applied the funds to updating the collections, installing new circulation desks, upgrading facilities and cataloging the unique historical and fine-arts works for the online catalog.

Carbone is a champion of the concept of life-long learning. He worked with the Vermont Humanities Council to bring their First Wednesday Lectures to Brattleboro and helped build the Brattleboro Literary Festival into a major annual event now in its 14 th year. In 2013 he made sure that Brooks Memorial Library became a founder of the 13-member Catamount Library Network.

In 2008, to mark his 30 years of service in and contribution to the field of library service, Carbone was honored by the Vermont Library Association with its coveted Sarah C. Hagar Award, named after the long-time librarian at the Fletcher Free Library in Burlington and the first president of VLA.

“I’m reminded of Apple founder Steve Jobs’ observation,“ said Carbone on his transition. “‘If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.’ Well, Brattleboro and Brooks Memorial Library have pulled me in all the right directions. It has been an honor to have spent almost my entire library career with this one institution and our library team—staff, Trustees, Friends of the Library. I could not have asked for a better run.”

Pamela Becker, President of the nine-member Brooks Memorial Library Board of Trustees, said, “Although we’re all sorry about Jerry’s pending retirement, we know how lucky we are to have had him as library director during these transformative years. He makes change happen! Serving on the board with such a dedicated and competent library director is both an interesting and rewarding experience.” Added Mary Ide, President of the Friends of Brooks Memorial Library, “These last several months in particular have been especially interesting for Jerry, the staff and all of us. In fall 2014 with Jerry’s guidance the Trustees and Friends launched a first-ever annual appeal. The library also received a significant bequest in January 2015, so there are bright new opportunities for taking the library in directions until now unimaginable. It doesn’t get more exciting than that!”

Town Manager Peter Elwell, a Brattleboro native who now heads the Town’s senior management team, said, “When I left for college 35 years ago, Jerry Carbone was already working at the library. And when I came home this past January to be Town Manager, I was comforted that Jerry was still here, leading this institution that has always been an important part of what makes Brattleboro so special. I wish we could have more time as colleagues because I enjoy working with Jerry and respect him enormously. I will work with the search team to find a successor who will build on Jerry’s incredible body of work and maintain his high standards as we move into the future.”

Trustee Jerry Goldberg is chairing the Library Director Search Committee which is comprised, in addition to the Town Manager, of three trustees, the Library Director’s three senior department heads and one seasoned non-Brooks library professional and resident of Brattleboro. Said Goldberg, “The search is on. If you have high-level experience in library management and operations, are looking to head up a library that sets the gold standard for what a rural hub community library should be, working with a team that is tops at what they do, in a vibrant community that prizes its library and is dedicated to its legacy and role in the future of the area it serves, you may be just who we’re looking for. Let us hear from you.”

For details on Brattleboro, Brooks Memorial Library, the Library Director job description, how to apply and our schedule for filling the position, check our website at brookslibraryvt.org, or e-mail trustees@brookslibraryvt.org.

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July 16, 2015

Contact: Town Manager’s Office, townmanager@brattleboro.org / 802-251-8151

or

Library Trustee Jerry Goldberg, trustees@brookslibraryvt.org / 802-246-1616