Connie Gilman said the Prince William County Public Library System is in better shape today than when she inherited it nearly 30 years ago.
Since 1990, the library system has opened four new branches, added programs for children and seniors, and has worked hard, so residents never ask the question: “do we need a library?”
Gilman spent the last month touring some of the county’s 11 libraries to say goodbye to the people who she says she’ll miss the most — library staff. Gilman will retire at the end of the month. Her last day is Monday, October 31.
Board of Supervisors Chairman At-large Corey Stewart recognized Gilman for her service to the county at a public meeting on Oct. 18.
“She’s done a phenomenal job,” said Stewart.
Delegate Rich Anderson, his wife Occoquan District Supervisor Ruth Anderson, county executives, and staff attended a brunch in Gilman’s honor earlier that morning,
Gilman leaves the library system on the heels of unprecedented expansion. Two new branch libraries — the Haymarket-Gainesville Community Library, and the Montclair Community Library — opened just weeks apart from each other last year.
The opening of the new centers came at a time when many jurisdictions across the U.S. are choosing not to open new libraries due to the proliferation of access to information on the web.
“I’ve heard ‘lucky you’ a lot from people across the state. [The opening of the new libraries] makes our library system look great across the Commonwealth of Virginia because we are growing, and the citizenry supports us, and that is something that other jurisdictions are envious of,” explained Gilman.
The goal of the new libraries and all libraries in the county is to bridge gaps between the affluent and poor, to provide everyone access to the same information. Access to trusted sources of information — both in hardcover books and online — will continue to make libraries valuable no matter how many new websites are created, said Gilman.
She took the job as she was finishing her Ph.D. at UVA. Upon arriving at the library, Gilman said she made it her goal to develop employees and promote from within.
“I hired a part-time Sunday librarian, and then developed her into a branch administrator,” explained Gilman. She went through the ranks and paid dues, while I mentored her, and I am very proud of her success.”
She also developed the worked with the Virginia Library Association and developed a leadership program that held its first conference in 2010, and subsequent conferences in 2014, and again this year.
Gilman lives in Manassas and has been asked to serve on the city’s Historic Resources Board after she retires. “That would be a good way to give back to my city,” she said.
First, Gilman plans to travel to Topsail Island in North Carolina to spend time with family, and to spend time with her grandsons, ages four and six.
“I want to spend more time with them and be involved in their lives,” she said.
