FEATURE PAGE
June 20, 2019




Library Director Margaret Marshall "exchanges pleasantries" with Katie Barbour (center), head reference librarian, and assistant Kayla Anderson.

Wherever she went, there was work to do

for life-long librarian Margaret Marshall


Margaret Marshall has been a librarian most of her life. She grew up in Baltimore, Md., got her undergraduate degree at Towson State, then moved to Allen, Tex. with her new husband where she began her library career.

 
Conferring with Margaret: Tracy Barbour (left), business manager, and Joy Vaughn, head of technical services.
Along with that first job she earned her master's degree in library science at Texas Woman's University.

Her husband David, meanwhile, had embarked on an academic career with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), first at Texas A&M and then on to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge where Margaret landed her second job --- in the LSU library.

From there the couple moved to Lafayette, Ind. --- the home of Purdue University --- where Margaret got another college-based job.

The Marshalls settled at last in Loveland, Colorado where they raised two sons and she continued her library career.

In 2002 David got a USDA position at N.C. State, where he still works. The following year, in March 2003, Margaret began her 16 years as director of the Public Library of Johnston County and Smithfield.

"Two months after I came here, we opened the expanded library in the former Belk building next door," Margaret said. In effect, that doubled the size of the local library and opened up opportunities for an expansion of programs as well. Preparations for that move had been mostly done, Margaret noted, by her predecessor, Joyce Mitchell, before her retirement (Joyce continues to work part-time at the Heritage Center across the street.)


Beth Smith (left), children's library, looks over her department's busy summer schedule with Margaret.
"When I came here, we had three librarians on staff" (with master's degrees), Margaret pointed out. Today there are four, including a position of children's librarian that was added several years ago.

In 2006 the library purchased Polaris, a computer program tailored for library services. "It was our first online system to allow patrons to search our collections from home," Margaret said.

What followed was Internet access to "e-books" and "audio books."

Five years ago the library gave up its long-standing Bookmobile service to rural residents because of its expense coupled with fewer book borrowers as Johnston County became more suburban. In its place the library started a "van service" that delivers books directly to patrons, especially shut-ins as well as children in day-care centers.

Another recent initiative is what she calls a "grab and go" service that drops off and picks up library books at commercial spots beyond the reach of towns that have public libraries. She credits Jeff Jennings, the library board's chairman, for "going door to door to businesses" to line that up.

In 2016 the local library joined a statewide network known as "NC Cardinal" that allows many of the state's libraries to exchange books to fulfill requests from local library users. This past year, from July through May, the library loaned 6,612 books to other libraries and borrowed 12,213, Margaret noted.

More recently, the library has worked out an arrangement with Johnston County Public Schools to allow a student attending any school in the county to check out books and use library computers by presenting a student's school-issued ID number (the service is also open to school teachers). "StudentAccess" is the program's name, and already, said Margaret, "we're seeing the first increase we've had in a few years" in the number of persons using Johnston's public libraries (all the municipal libraries except Clayton's are "networked" with the "mother ship" in Smithfield).


Margaret admires the library's collection of Louis Orr etchings of North Carolina landmarks --- an acquisition made possible by Friends of the Smithfield Library.
Another accomplishment that makes Margaret proud was expansion several years ago of the Harnett County Literacy Council into "Triangle South Literacy Works," which provides space in Johnston's libraries for teachers to meet with students deficient in their reading. That project is funded with a grant provided by the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), Margaret said.

A recent physical improvement inside the library is a remodeling of its second-floor meeting room. The brown paneling on the walls has been replaced by colorfully painted sheetrock, and a new carpet is about to be installed, Margaret said. She encourages civic organizations and others to make use of the space for all sorts of gatherings and performances.

Margaret Marshall's last day on the job is Friday, June 28. Her successor is Renita Barksdale, currently director of the city-county public library in Elizabethton, Tenn. (near Johnson City).

For more information about the Public Library of Johnston County and Smithfield, visit the library's website>



The Public Library of Johnston County and Smithfield graces the corner of Market and Third streets in the heart of town. It was designed and constructed during a downtown revitalization movement in the mid-1960s.