Plymouth Library Director Set to Retire This Fall

Over the past 34-years as the director of the Plymouth District Library, Patricia Thomas has seen a lot of changes in the library’s collections, from hardcover books to paperbacks and now, most recently, eBooks.

“When I first came here, paperbacks were the big question - should we really buy lots of paperbacks?” Thomas said. “And the idea with libraries like this one, is that you meet people where they are, with their reading, recreation and study needs. If paperbacks are the things, that’s what you get. When the media changes, you start new collections. Ebooks are the current hot thing - we have eBooks readers out there to sample and we buy downloadables as quickly as we can. You want to be the place where people think of for information and also for materials. Our biggest collection is still books and probably will be for a long, long time.”

Thomas, who has been director of the Plymouth library since 1979 and a children’s librarian before that, says it’s time for her to retire and give someone else a chance. Her last days will be at the end of September.

There is no replacement lined up for Thomas yet, though the library board has the search process started.

“I think its time for me to do some of the things I’ve put on the back burner,” she said about her decision. “My kids are no longer in the area, and I want to be able to spend more time with them. And also, professionally, the library is at a real good place. We’ve completed a lot of the things that library directors like to get done. We have stable funding, we have a nice building. We have a thriving, vibrant program. Our technology is up to date. So as I look ahead to things we might do next, I don’t know that I’m ready to commit another three or four years to do those kinds of things. It’s time to give somebody else a chance.”

Thomas said she plans to take longer trips to visit her kids in St. Paul, MN, and spend some time working on a place she owns in northern Michigan. She also will have more free time for gardening.

Throughout her career, the two things Thomas is most proud of are organizing and getting stable funding in place and the Plymouth District library building.

When Thomas first arrived at the Plymouth library, the building was only 6,000 square feet with about 20 seats that included the stairway, hearth and fireplace. It was renovated three times, in 1983, 1996 and 2007 to get the updated 52,000 square feet facility guests use today.

”We get a lot of compliments on library,” Thomas said. “It’s just that every area is a little different and it’s bright. We love to work in this building. It’s a fun place to work. It’s busy as can be. You’re moving around - you get your exercise. There are nice, nice people, interesting questions - the whole nine yards. This is a wonderful library.”