St. Johns Staff Development Day

Yesterday St. Johns County Public Library System had a Celebration of Their Past, Present and Future in the St. Johns County Convention Center at World Golf Village. It began with a look at the library system's past by Karen Harvey, author of several books about St. Augustine's history. Members of the audience added their recollections, including a story from a Friend of the Library (and current staff member) about moving from a store front into the stand alone Bartram Trail branch, "we thought we had died and gone to heaven. And when the renovated, we knew we were in heaven." These are the Friends every library needs! This was followed by a presentation on the Future of Libraries by Larry Dennis, Dean of the FSU College of Information.

The fabulous cuban themed lunch included a slide presentation highlighting staff activities throughout the year. Lunch was followed by a true celebration of the past, present and future that included recognition of every staff member for their years of service, the passing of the baton to the Debra Rhodes Gibson, the new library director, and recognition of speakers with the presentation of a book donated to the library in their honor (what a great idea!!)

As many of you know, the library's director, Mary Jane Little, will be retiring in January 2008. There was a special tribute to Mary Jane including comments from her thanking four people who have been instrumental in her success, Paul Donovan (FSU), Dean Harold Goldstein (FSU), former County Administrator Nick Meiszer and current Assistant County Administrator for Community Services Jerry Cameron. This was followed by a comments from several friends and colleagues and the presentation of a beautiful rocking chair by the county commissioners.

After all the guests left staff moved on to the portion of the day just for them. Because so many changes are in store as Mary Jane leaves, they brought in Carol Price to lead them through The Change Challenge - a 4-step process.

The day ended with door prizes for EVERYONE! It was a wonderful day of celebration. Staff seemed pumped up and ready to go take on the world once again.