WEST SPRINGFIELD – Library Director Antonia Golinski-Foisy cleaned out her desk when she retired earlier this month, packing up mementos and memories as she left the building for the last time as director.

“I don’t like the word ‘retire’; I think it’s a sad word. I’m telling everyone I’m going on my jubilation journey,” said Golinski-Foisy.

Golinski-Foisy’s former colleagues in West Springfield, like Assistant Library Director Eileen Chapman, weren’t so jubilant.

“I’m going to miss my friend. I worked with her for 25 years. It’s a different feeling right now, it’s very quiet and we’re all getting used to her not being here,” said Chapman. “She had the most amazing stories and great laugh.”

Golinski-Foisy graduated from American International College in 1973 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. Her career path to local libraries began with the unlikely roles of newspaper writer and publisher.

She and her husband ran two newspapers – the Horseman’s Yankee Pedlar, which carried equine news, and Vette’n USA, which was all about Corvettes. Both papers had national distribution and gave Golinski-Foisy a chance to practice a favorite craft.

“I love to write. I have a passion for it, and being able to write is so important when you’re running a library,” she says. 

Even as she was publishing newspapers, Golinski-Foisy spent much of her time in the Hubbard Memorial Library in Ludlow. She was there so often, her husband said she should apply for a job there. So she did, and she never looked back. 

“I got the job as Hubbard’s children’s librarian. That started my library career,” she said.

Golinski-Foisy spent eight years at Hubbard before moving on to serve as children’s librarian for a little more than two years in East Longmeadow. She eventually landed in West Springfield 25 years ago, starting as children’s services director before becoming library director in 2000.

“I’ve loved every minute of my time here, but there’s the old saying, ‘You wake up one day and you know it’s time to retire,’” she said. “I’ve met all my goals and visions of what I wanted to accomplish. They’ve all come true.”

Part of what’s come true is helping lead the charge to raise money for and build a new library in West Side seven years ago. She considers that the cherry on top of what she’s been able to accomplish over more than two decades.

Other improvements include growing the tech presence from 20 to 150 computers, creating meeting places where anyone from local businesses and town departments can come for meetings and training sessions, and expanded holdings that go beyond paper books to digital platforms.

The library now has quiet places to meet and study, read or play chess. There are games and puzzles, an art gallery and history room with town documents dating back to 1850. Patrons can rent musical instruments, or even a telescope. Golinski-Foisy created summer reading and music programs and guided the community through the coronavirus pandemic by bringing the library and its programs online.

She’s loved it all, with one exception.

“The hardest thing is getting the budget you need every single year, hoping that people don’t think the library is expendable and you don’t have to fund it,” shed said. “You do. We’re always fighting for the library’s fair share of the budget.”

Golinski-Foisy is every bit the bibliophile, a lover of books and people, too. A library is the community hub, where people come for information and to socialize, and she’s made her fair share of friends over the years.

“I’ve seen children who were in my story groups grow up and get married,” she said. “There is a human connection that is so essential because everything is technology-driven. If you lose touch with people, your social growth suffers.”

The town’s mayor, William Reichelt, says he’ll miss the woman he and others affectionately call Toni.

“Toni is an incredible person and an excellent library director. She has been with the town since I was a young reader at the old library, and through her leadership and dedication, we have a beautiful new library,” he said.

Now that she has the time and freedom to look beyond work, Golinski-Foisy and her husband plan to renovate their family farmhouse and cottage. She’s looking forward to a trip to the United Kingdom, London in particular. She’ll begin to accumulate new memories in retirement to go along with those gathered over several decades in the library.

“You take your memories with you and all the good experiences, and you learn something from the bad experiences. Memories are such a blessing, they lift your spirit,” she says.

 The mayor is now searching for a new library director and hopes to have one in place as soon as possible.