EAST LONGMEADOW – Library Director Susan Peterson is set to retire Jan. 8 after serving in the position for more than 11 years.

Peterson told Reminder Publications her job has been the best opportunity for her.

“I have the best staff I’ve ever worked with and after 40 years working in libraries with a lot of different people you can just get a sense of, ‘These are the best people to work with,’” she added.  

She said she became director not long after the new library was completed and during the past decade the library has seen growth in terms of the number of patrons visiting the public library.

“Because of the face that we’re so centrally located and just because of the quality of service and programs that we do we’ve seen our circulation double over the years and it’s stayed constant,” she added.

“We’ve been able to provide exceptional children’s program and events throughout the year. Plus, recently in the last two or three years we’ve really increased the number of programs for adults. I’m really proud of that. This one thing that the [Library] Board of Trustees wanted to see happen,” she continued.

Peterson said some of the library’s adult offerings include monthly movie screenings, book signings, as well as programs on health and genealogy and weekly English as a second language classes.

“We provide all these programs free to the public,” she noted.

Peterson said the East Longmeadow Public Library has a “very good reputation in the state.”

She added, “I’ve always believed that a library is not just the people in it, but what’s in it and it has to be kept current and relevant and popular. We strive to provide a quality collection ... We’re serving more as a community gathering space now than what might think of traditional library service.”

One aspect of the job that Peterson said she chose for herself was to order all adult materials.

“That’s the part that I kept for myself and that’s the part that I’ll continue to miss,” she noted.

Peterson also offered advice for her successor.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” she said. “The staff here has a lot of experience and they know the community so well. Listen to what the staff has to say and get their opinion as to how this library works and what they feel is important.”

Prior to becoming East Longmeadow’s library director, Peterson said she worked in a similar position in Bellingham for four years and before that was the library director in East Bridgewater.

The town’s website lists the library director position as full-time with 37.5 hours per week and a salary between $62,000 and $75,000 a year with a town benefits package included.

The job advertisement was posted on Dec. 1, 2015. Applications will be accepted until Feb. 1.

For more information about the library director position visit www.eastlongmeadowma.gov/Jobs.aspx?UniqueId=113&From=All&CommunityJobs=False&JobID=Library-Director-52.