Library director retiring

Weston County Library System director plans to retire April 30

Brenda Mahoney-Ayres, who has been director of the Weston County Library System for 14 years, is ready to thrive in retirement.

She said in an email interview on April 2 that while she’s only 62, it’s time. Her last day is April 30.

“While I love what I do, I didn’t want to become another ‘I’m working for the insurance’ statistic, only to eventually retire in my late 60s and find my health or other reasons prevent me from truly enjoying it,” she said. “I have a lot of life left to live!”

Along with eagerly spending more time with her grandchildren, she intends to revive her hobbies and support creativity. Over the past decade, she’s found that creativity is an essential part of being human.

“I believe the arts in all its forms inspire and create community. It is sad to see them seemingly relegated to (the) inconsequential in our everyday lives,” she said. “I hope to find ways to change that.”

Library board Chair Deb Smith said in a phone interview on April 5 that Mahoney-Ayres has been “wonderful” in promoting the Creative Aging art program. Through this grant-funded program, people who are at least 55 years old can learn art skills in an eight-week course that the News Letter Journal’s Walter Sprague teaches at Weston County Library, according to a Facebook post the library made in March.

Mahoney-Ayres said that she has always had a love of books and reading. She grew up on a ranch in Weston County and recalled how her mom would bring her to town so she could participate in the library’s reading program. Her work in libraries began in the early 2000s, when she became a page for the Crook County Library System.

With the assistance of the former state librarian, Jamie Markus, who was then the continuing education coordinator, Mahoney-Ayres began working to obtain her associate’s degree in library and information science. She went on to graduate from the University of Maine at Augusta with her bachelor’s degree in library and information science. In 2007, she became the circulation services librarian at Weston County Library and later, in 2010, the director. The library district has nine employees.

“Libraries have always had the mission of providing free access to information for all people, and that is a foundational reason for the work I do,” she said. “It also became very important to me to promote the library as the community center it is.”

She said that the most notable change that she has seen in libraries is “the taint of politics on the library world.”

“I always viewed libraries as an equitable institution providing information and ideas to all people – that idea unexpectedly became suspect,” she said.

Mahoney-Ayres said technology has moved “at lightning speed.” At the beginning of her career in libraries, e-readers were just becoming available for checkout. In 2024, staff are considering the significance of artificial intelligence and how to leverage it for best practices in library communities, she said.

“At the end of the day, the job a librarian does is about people … fellow human beings. All people. I have established friendships with people from all walks of life, ages, creeds, color and political bent --— librarianship afforded me that,” she said. “As I turn the page to a new chapter in my life, I will forever treasure those encounters. I will miss the people the most.”

Smith said that Mahoney-Ayres’ retirement party will be from 2 to 4 p.m. May 1 at the library, 23 W. Main St., Newcastle.