Celeste Krahl began her career at the Hamden Public Library in 1986 as a reference librarian at the Miller Memorial Central Library. She immediately became part of the team and received accolades from both her peers and the public. Celeste was eager to learn all aspects of reference service, from collection development to ILL. Her subject areas of responsibility were history, literature, and science fiction, plus being in charge of large print books and the service to the homebound program, which she revitalized with an LSTA grant an influx of volunteers.

Celeste demonstrated great flexibility by working in other departments to cover vacancies; she worked in the children's room as a children's librarian, and was assigned briefly to the Whitneyville Branch. When the Dunbar Davenport senior residence had a major fire that destroyed their library, Celeste assisted with the rebuilding of their collection.

In 1989, Celeste worked with the team utilizing an LSTA grant to index the historic Hamden newspapers. The Hamden Historical Society Library continues to use this index to find historic Hamden information for their customers.

In 1994 she transferred to the technical services department and began a cataloging career. She was heavily involved in the conversion to the Dynix system when Hamden left the LEAP consortium and assumed the duties of back-up systems administrator. Celeste was promoted to Head of Technical Services in 2003, supervising systems administration, cataloging, mending and acquisitions operations. Constant changes and upgrades in technology consumed most of her time as she and the technology librarian moved from CD products to online products, and from dumb terminals to PCs as part of the migration to the Horizon system. The WAN increased from 35 to 75 PCs.

Celeste continued to work periodically at the reference desk, filling in for absences or meetings and covering the Saturday schedule as part of the weekend rotation. Celeste knows the collection well and there were times when she answered a question with either a book she had cataloged or a database she helped load. Celeste feels enormously satisfied at seeing the "end product," the perfect response to a patron's query made possible by the work of so many hands and minds.

Library Director Bob Gualtieri states: "All of Celeste's colleagues hold her in the highest esteem for her commitment to doing a job well and giving the best service to both patrons and the staff."

Her commitment to the staff and improved working conditions is also noteworthy; she has served as president, vice-president and treasurer in the AFSCME local during her 20-year career. The local nominated Celeste for an AFSCME achievement award.

Irene Nolan, head of Miller Library Public Services, states, "Celeste is a librarian's librarian, a true Renaissance woman, equally proficient in reference, cataloging, technology and children's services. Her dry wit and bad puns have made difficult times easier. Celeste's intolerance of less than complete authority control in our database made all Hamden Library workers' jobs easier. If I were ever doing "in a fox hole" under less than ideal conditions, I'd want Celeste to be my partner at the reference desk."

Celeste retired in June 2006 to travel with her husband Don and to spend more time volunteering at a local animal shelter and to continue volunteering in a program that creates audible books for the blind. Two months later she was back at the cataloging department after director Gualtieri begged her to return for two days a week on a part time temporary basis.

At her retirement dinner, Celeste stated: "As a librarian, I was allowed to grow and experience many aspects of public library work at the Hamden Public Library. From temporary children's librarian to temporary branch manager, from reference librarian with lots of public contact to technical services librarian with almost none, every day was different and exciting. Some of the projects that I enjoyed most include working with the Davenport Dunbar staff on rebuilding their library after fire, developing a first-rate science fiction collection, coordinating volunteers for the homebound services and working with our homebound customers, and overseeing the library's migration to its current automated system. I was fortunate to work with a staff that is second to none in the state, and to work for library directors that trusted my professional experience enough to stretch my capabilities from time to time."

Judy Lhamon, associate library director, Hamden Public Library