Peggy Olsen Resigns
[cp_dropcaps]A[/cp_dropcaps]fter twenty-six years of loving service to the community as Director of the Millington Arbela District Library, Margaret (Peggy) Olsen has announced her resignation effective July 31, 2016. Frequently arriving for work an hour early, Peggy has always strived to make the library a safe haven for the freedom of thought and civil discourse.
Many things have changed during the decades that Peggy has held the helm of the library. Some of those changes are: the different role library services play in the community, the evolution from printed research materia–to its easy availability via the Internet, e-books, the ease of access to interloaned material from anywhere in the state, and the rise of social media.
During Peggy’s tenure the library:
- Was assured stable funding by the formation of a library district
- In 1991, built an addition which increased the size of the library by approximately twenty-five percent
- Used grant money and donated services to install the library’s first networked, computerized, catalog and circulation system
- Remodeled the restrooms bringing them up to code
- Installed a more energy-efficient lighting system
- Replaced the uneven south side sidewalk after improving drainage
- Replaced broken ornamental concrete with columns
- Purchased the vacant house and lot next door to the library
- Demolished house to remove blight and to provide for future needs of the library
- Enlarged and paved the parking lot after improving drainage
- Created more handicapped parking spaces
- Created gardens on three sides of the library building
- Purchased leather furniture for the public reading area
- Replaced solid doors to the conference room with glass
- More than doubled the book and DVD budget
- Insulated the ceiling
- Replaced gutters and installed gutter guards
- Replaced the worn Formica(r) covered circulation desktop with granite
- Replaced the library’s roof with extremely long-life steel roofing material
Thank you, Peggy. It was a job well done.