Medford library director Barbara Kerr to retire

If you mention to those who know her that Barbara Kerr is retiring after 42 years at the Medford Public Library, the last 10 as its director, you see the same reaction.

“I guess that’s good for Barbara,” many people say quietly, lips almost quivering. “It’s really great for her…and really sad for us, for Medford.”

In her office on a sunny afternoon, Kerr laughs when told of the reactions. It’s the same one she’s heard over and over since she told the staff and Library Board of Trustees about her decision.

“I’ve been here a long time,” Kerr says. “I know it’s not all about me. Everybody will be fine. We have a great group of people who are committed to what they do…and I know they will call me when they can’t find where I put everything.”

Kerr has been sorting her office, stuffing plushies into bags so she can take them home, and making decisions about what to leave behind (the busts of Amelia Earhart and William Shakespeare). She says she just bought a new bookcase to house the stuffed animals she’s rescued over the years who have lived on similar shelves in her office.

“Yep, I just bought a bookcase for them,” Kerr says. “I’m putting a new roof on my house. I’ve got jury duty in June. Those are my plans.”

Everyone has been asking, she adds, but she’s still not sure what her long-term plans are for retirement. Except going to see “Project Hail Mary” with her brother.

“We’re going to the movies on my first day of retirement so I’m not freaked out,” she explains. “We both read that book.”

A Letter from Library Director Barbara Kerr

As I mentioned in the last newsletter, I will be retiring at the end of April. I am sad to be leaving but looking forward to what comes next. And sleeping late. I started working in a library when I was in high school, and was very fortunate to find work that I liked so [...]Read More…

Charlotte and William Bloomberg Medford Public LibraryRowan Wheeler

How it all began

Kerr jokes around about her last day of work, which is Thursday, April 30.

“I wanted to do April because I became director 10 years ago in April,” she says. “I wanted to come full circle, but I didn’t look at the day of the week. Seriously, it’s a Thursday.”

Doing that is so her, she’s told, and Kerr laughs. When prodded, Kerr relents on telling the story of her beginnings in Medford. But she goes back even further when asked how she became a librarian to begin with.

“Here’s the story I tell,” Kerr says. “I was 16 and my friend Lorena wanted to go to the main Newton library and my mother drove us. Then she said, ‘While you’re there, get a job.’”

Kerr didn’t want a job, but the library had a shelving position open and she was hired. She said her friend actually inspired her when she became director.

“All Lorena wanted was a book about witchcraft,” Kerr recalls. “And they didn’t have that. We have lots of books on the topic. I wanted to make sure people get what they want when they come here.”

Kerr worked at the Newton library all through high school and into her last year of college at Boston College, almost until graduation. She majored in history and then decided on a graduate degree in library science at Simmons College.

“I did the program in one year,” Kerr says. “I did it fast because I knew what I wanted to do. In a branch, you do a little of everything and I liked it and I was good at it. I was sure I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but eventually I made the decision and it was the right thing for me.”

No offense to Simmons, Kerr says, but the classes weren’t that challenging for her. She was anxious to get on with her career.

In 1984, Kerr graduated. That’s when she saw an opening in Medford for a cataloger.

“I applied and sent in my resume,” Kerr says. “Seriously, I didn’t even know where Medford was. My uncle drove me to my interview. He hung around and looked at the books.”

The library was so different from Newton.

“It was so big and bright,” she says. “I wasn’t supposed to stay. My boss in Newton said I should stay five years and then go somewhere else and work my way up. I moved up here.”

Library life in Medford

When Kerr arrived, Medford had just signed on to the Minuteman Library Network and had been on the system for just six months. For the first three years she worked in Medford, she input information into computers, which she says she really liked.

Nope, she didn’t want to be a children’s or reference librarian. Kerr says she worked the circulation desk and “wandered into this,” meaning her management role.

In 1993, Kerr became assistant library director, a position she held for 23 years. In 2016, she was finally named director.

Wasn’t that when the library building project started? How did she handle that?

“I had a heart attack afterwards and then a stroke,” Kerr jokes, although she’s totally serious. “I’m sure it was the stress of the whole thing. Honestly, I didn’t expect to do the building project.”

Kerr says the idea was floated around in 2000, but it wasn’t to be and the library continued to “put out the fires.” But in 2015, when former Mayor Stephanie M. Burke came into office, the idea was back on the table.

Kerr also credits former City Councilor Rick Caraviello, who was working hard at finding funds at the state level for a new library building.

“We hit it at just the right time,” Kerr explains. “There was construction money available, but they said we had to get [the application and plans done] in six months. We got it done. I spent the summer of 2016 calculating shelf space.”

The application was submitted in 2017 and Kerr says she was sure Medford wasn’t going to be invited into the first round. That, she adds, was reserved for libraries that were in an emergency state.

“We were sure we weren’t an emergency,” she says. “We thought we’d be put on a wait list.”

Nope. Medford was selected right away.

Kerr says because the first group had nearly 10 libraries in need, there wasn’t enough money. However, one group dropped out and Medford managed to grab a few more bucks.

Then COVID-19 hit.

Kerr says the library was already being moved to 200 Boston Ave. as a temporary location. Cummings Properties gave the city a good deal on rent and found a space that even allowed staff to leave books on tables in the hallway when lockdown happened.

“Our circulation was high even though we weren’t open until later that August,” Kerr says, of 2020. “We kind of rolled with it and we were very fortunate in the place where we ended up. A lot of libraries weren’t even open. People would return books and we’d put them in the closet for two weeks. We had a rotating system of closets!”

The new library opened in January 2022 with no steel shelving because materials weren’t available due to COVID. Still, Kerr says rolling shelves worked out just fine.

What was it like seeing the building for the first time?

“We came in before it was complete,” Kerr says. “We worked with the architects and so we saw it before the walls were in.”

The impact wasn’t as shattering as you might imagine. But the fact that it was all so brand new was amazing.

“We had an opportunity to start fresh and get everything we wanted and we made it adaptable,” Kerr says. “The old space wasn’t pretty, but we were able to shift things around and this space is also really adaptable.”

Medford is the first net zero library in the state. The library is only the ninth net zero library in the country.

“It was so hard on me, but I’m so glad we did it,” Kerr says. “We survived.”

What’s next?

Is the new library her biggest accomplishment?

“I think there’s two,” Kerr says. “The building is pretty obvious, but the other is more subtle. I would say that was keeping us moving forward during tough times. Yes, the building is big and splashy, but we were really struggling during the 2010s. We just kept going.”

Sounds like she’s going to miss it all.

“I will miss the public,” Kerr says.

And?

“Books,” she says. “I read e-books now. I’m allergic to book dust. I really miss ordering books. It was one of the parts I enjoyed most, the development of the collection.”

So why is she retiring?

“It’s just time,” Kerr says. “I like to do things, observe passages, and I figure 10 years was good. When Sam [Sednek] took over as assistant director, I had less to do. There’s enough staff that you can delegate to. At one point, I was doing about seven to 15 jobs and now I do one.”

It made her think, Kerry says, especially when she had a stroke in 2024. It seemed time to retire, and in 2025, Kerr told the Trustees she would be leaving in 2026.

And so the time has come. Kerr says there’s so much she can do, but she really has no immediate plans.

“I have no idea what I’m going to do,” she says. “Actually, I have some vague plans. I’ve looked at some container gardening. My friend wants to start a book club. I want to travel. And yes, I plan to come back for activities.”

She’s a senior now, Kerr adds, and Newton just built a new senior center she can check out. Ironically, the center is on the site of the library where Kerr started her career as a teenager.

“It all comes full circle,” she says, with a laugh.

When asked what she’d like to say to all the Medford residents who have expressed their sadness at her leaving, Kerr is thoughtful, but not at a loss for heartfelt words.

“I am very lucky,” she says. “I landed some place that I liked working for so long. I’m lucky to have a career that has suited me for so many years. Who am I, if I’m not a librarian? I’m just a person with a lot of plushies. I just really like Medford.”