Culture & Community | Guilford | Arts & Culture | Youth Arts Journalism Initiative | Literacy | Libraries
Judy Haggarty (right) with her friend Pam Knowles (left). Ruby Szekeres Photo.
Judy Haggerty’s tiara glimmered across the meeting room. It was her time to shine. After 27 years as a constant presence at the Guilford Free Library, she was stepping into her next chapter—with a sendoff fit for a queen.
With flowered tea cups, sandwiches, scones and other delectables, friends, family, and coworkers of Haggerty’s gathered Friday at the Guilford Free Library to celebrate her extraordinary 27 years of service to the institution. From part-time assistant to working full time as circulation supervisor and interlibrary loan coordinator, Haggerty became an essential part of the community.
“Finding someone to fill Judy’s shoes will be impossible,” said Director Rob McCoole (Haggerty herself has prepared Melissa Tullo, who is currently a reference librarian there, to take up the reins). “We’ll probably find multiple people to take up everything she did.”
Libraries have been a second home to Haggerty all of her life. Though she moved frequently growing up, there was always a library nearby for her to visit.
“When they’d only let you check out three books at a time, I was there multiple times a week,” she remembered. Now with retirement, she hopes to get to read even more books, though regrets not being able to know the most popular titles.
“Working at a library was never on my horizon when I was young, as I always thought I would become a teacher,” she added. Her life working in libraries started when she applied for a teacher position at a school. There was a shortage of teaching jobs at the time, so instead she was offered a job in the school library.
After that, she continued her career working in libraries, which ultimately brought her to Guilford as a part time assistant in the public library. She worked that job for eight years. After that, she inherited the title of interlibrary loan coordinator from Nancy Wardell, who had been there for 25 years before retiring. Haggerty held onto that position before approaching her own retirement.
Though she will no longer be at her desk, she will still be nearby. For now, Haggerty plans to stay in the Guilford area, occasionally going further afield to visit family. With a smile, she joked that there are two reasons why she wanted to retire—she's getting shorter and she wants to spend more time with family.
“As I get older, I get shorter as well. I thought it would be time to retire once I was unable to lock the sliding doors,” she said with a laugh, referring to the doors leading to the entrance of the library. She took a sip of tea. “I thought it was time to step down.”
Though the celebration wasn’t posted on the website, that didn’t stop people from coming. Everyone mingled, talking with old friends and new ones, with former library employees, Friends of the Guilford Library members and patrons.
Those working the reference desk also managed to make an appearance to send Haggerty off, dropping in when they could. Scones, sandwiches and mini quiches greeted them each time they walked into the room, as did a chocolate celebration cake with a berry-cream filling.
“It’ll be different not having that friendly face everyday who always asks about your life,” said Angelina Carnevale, head of the children’s department and an associate librarian. “Judy’s great with customer service and is always maintaining work behind the scenes. She’s just one of those people who everyone in Guilford knows.”
McCoole recalled how during Covid-19, while changes greatly affected the interlibrary loans, “Judy was able to turn a bad situation into a great one.” With her skills, she was able to work with the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) to make things more accessible. This was just one regalement from countless stories of Haggerty’s ’s accomplishments.
To many, Haggerty won’t just be remembered as the joyful smile, but also as a mentor as she trained many newcomers to the library team over the years.
They include MaryJo Helchowski, a reference librarian, who still remembers her time starting there three years ago. Helchowski also helped decorate the tea along with making a slideshow featuring an array of images of Haggerty, including photos of her as a child to present day.
“It’s just great to see so many people here for Judy,” Helchowski said. “She really will be missed.
This article comes from a graduate of the 2024 Cohort of the Youth Arts Journalism Initiative. Ruby Szekeres is a rising junior at the Sound School.