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Thursday, 16 April 2009 |
Julie Hart, director of the Saline County Public Li-brary system for the past 13 years, is leaving the post for the Blue Grass state.  Julie Hart, who has served as director of the Saline County Public Library system for 13 years, is leaving to take a similar job in her home state of Kentucky. Here, she visits with a retired greyhound visiting the library during a celebration for National Library Week. (Courier photo by Lynda Hollenbeck)
Hart, who grew up near Padukah, Ky., will become director of McCracken Pub-lic Library.
Her final day on the job here is June 5 and she’ll begin her new position June 15.
“The Library Board soon will be beginning the search for my replacement,” Hart said.
Regarding her successor, Hart said she hopes it will be someone who “will take care of the library.”
“The feelings among the staff and board are good ... we like each other, and we want it to stay that way,” she said.
Hart said she’s enjoyed her years in Saline County. “I have loved this place as much if not more that most of the natives.”
She called the library facilities here “something to be proud of ... and our people are proud of them,” she added.
With her 13-year stint, Hart holds the record for having the longest tenure at the helm of the Saline County Public Library system. “I’m second behind Mrs. Daughtery (Ella Daugherty Pitcock), who was here for 27 years — from 1946-1973.”
Hart came to the post from the Arkansas State Library.
“Traffic at the two libraries has been good and we’ve needed every hand on deck,” she said. Noting a recent increase in library usage, Hart said the numbers have not gone down in any of the years she’s been here “but this year they’ve just kind of blown out the walls in both libraries.”
Serving on the Library Board that governs the operation of the county library system are Ray Graddy, chairman; George D. “Bucky” Ellis; Caroline Miller-Robinson; Joan O’Neal; and Tricia Ford-Jones. She said Linda Edwards has been nominated to replace Graddy when his term expires in July.
The board has not formally accepted Hart’s resignation, she said. “I’ll present that to the board at the May meeting.”
Ellis commended Hart for her leadership.
“Along with the late Bob Herzfeld (for whom the Benton library is named) and the families who gave us the property for the structure, Julie is responsible for our success in building two wonderful libraries (one in Benton and one in Bryant),” he said.
“She had the vision and the leadership ability not only with respect to architectural issues but also to the political issue touching on taxation,” he said.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for her to go home and we wish her the best,” Ellis said. “We’ll certainly miss her.”
When asked what she is “most proud of” during her years as library director, Hart said, “How great the staff is — the people who work here. I have the best staff in the world. I’m pretty sure no one will compare with these people.”
There are 40 part-time and full-time staff members at the two libraries, she noted.
The Herzfeld Memorial Library facility on Smithers Drive in Benton, where Hart’s headquarters are located, opened in August 2004. The Bryant library opened in February 2001.
“I’m happy for the community residents that there are these new buildings,” she said. “I don’t know how we survived in the buildings we had for long, but we did.”
A number of changes have been made during Hart’s leadership. She said the library system has added the following:
•The first young adult librarian in Central Arkansas.
•The first homebound service in Central Arkansas.
•A full-time curator for the David Demuth Arkansas Room at the Benton facility.
•A children’s librarian in Bryant.
•A part-time young adult librarian in Bryant.
•A free dial-a-story.
•An open night in Bryant.
•Two meeting rooms.
•Two entirely new library structures.
•Laptops and WiFi
“The buildings are something that the community can be proud of for generations to come,” Hart said. “They were opened debt-free using a small sales tax voted in by Saline County voters. Even if you did not vote for it, they should be something to be proud of. “
Hart expressed appreciation to the Courier, which she called “immeasurably helpful.”
“It was one of the only establishments that openly would take the step to be openly supportive of the library in the beginning,” she said. “I can’t tell you how much that has meant.”
Hart’s family includes a daughter who lives in Jonesboro, a son in Hot Springs, a 2-year-old granddaughter and a 17-year-old step-granddaughter.
Hart said she grew up on a farm and looked forward to weekly trips to the public library. “It was a Carnegie library and had a children’s department downstairs. Those are some of my happiest memories ... “
An avowed animal lover, Hart recalled there was usually someone there from the Humane Society “with a dog or cat that they were trying to find a home.”
The library burned when Hart was a fifth-grader and the facility relocated to the Methodist Church, she said. “Then they built another. I think all of that inspired me to go into library science. For so many years I had watched that library that meant so much to me ... “
An Arkansas resident for 20 years, Hart says she’ll “love the state until I die.”
She acknowledged that she has even rooted for Arkansas at times “unless it is basketball against Kentucky, and I have called the Hogs in the privacy of my home ... “
“But don’t tell Steve Perdue,” she added.
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