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Ann B. Penfield, director of Haddam's Brainerd Memorial Library, retired on June 30, 2007, following a long career as a librarian. Thomas Jefferson famously stated, "No nation can remain both ignorant and free." Librarians know that this piece of wisdom is at the root of why public libraries are the central force of democracy in our society. The public library is the only cultural institution in our country that gives all people-without qualification-access to knowledge, the collective history of human achievement, and the latest information a modern society produces.

Ann B. Penfield has been, since her very first library job in 1954, an unwavering force for this commitment to democracy and intellectual freedom through a professional career of stellar achievements in librarianship. As the former chair of the Brainerd Memorial Library Board of Directors, and the library director for the past five years, Ann has worked to firmly establish Brainerd Memorial Library as the cultural centerpiece of Haddam.

A short list of her superlative achievements is testament to this accomplishment: writing a successful grant to the Middlesex County Community Foundation to revamp the History Room; writing the fundraising letter to patrons and to the Brainerd family to raise money for the beautiful rotunda renovation, an extensive and complicated process she oversaw at every stage; spending two entire years entering every single circulating item in the library's collection from an old database into the new LION database; managing the transition to a brand new LION automated circulation and cataloging system; securing the library's move to high-speed DSL computer lines and acquiring new computers for patron use; significantly increasing adult programming, bringing authors, nature experts, and experienced discussion leaders to the library; creating a service so homebound Haddam residents could obtain library materials; creating the first program to bring Brainerd library services to Haddam Neck residents; and creating Brainerd Library's first Paws 'n Read program, where specially trained therapy dogs help children to read more fluently. Under Ann Penfield's tenure, the library's holdings have reached 40,000 items, available for use by over 4,500 patrons who have Brainerd as their home library. In addition to creating unprecedented increases in patron usage from Haddam, Higganum, and Haddam Neck residents, Ann has ensured the broad reach of Brainerd's services to surrounding communities, including Middletown, East Haddam, Chester, and Deep River, as well as to other member libraries in the LION consortium.

Ann has worked tirelessly in a highly diplomatic and collaborative fashion with numerous town officials and departments and the voting public of Haddam to secure yearly budget increases for the library, which allowed her to substantially increase and diversify the library's collections, add staff positions, and greatly expand programming for Haddam and surrounding towns. When I asked Ann what she felt her greatest achievement has been here at Brainerd, she told me her particular pride and joy is the work she did to upgrade the library's various collections. As she said, "A library is only as good as its materials, and its willingness to service the public."

It is precisely Brainerd's diverse holdings that set it apart from other small public libraries and is a real highlight among Ann's remarkable achievements. Our patrons have access to the most current print titles in adult, young adult, and children's fiction and nonfiction; our CD collection features an amazing range of genres from opera and chamber music to world folk, American pop and country music, and notable children's music and spoken word recordings. The DVD collection is stunning for a library of its size; we've had patrons travel from as far away as Farmington to take out DVDs available nowhere else in Connecticut but Brainerd.

What has impressed me most about Ann Penfield is her inherent ability to work collaboratively, to build a genuine team effort, and to diffuse any smolderings of ego so the greater collective good of library work comes to the fore. Ann has respected her outstanding staff and their individual talents, and has thus been deeply respected in return. In all the places I've worked, I have never seen a staff more loyal to its leader than this wonderful staff to Ann Penfield. Ann has made it a priority to empower her staff to do the very best work they can possibly do here, and the staff's numerous achievements are simultaneously their own and hers. She has worked with great diplomacy and respect with the LION Board and staff, with outside vendors, and representatives of other public service organizations, and has woven a miraculous fabric of people loyal to and respectful of the Brainerd Memorial Library.

The gold thread running through the tapestry of skill and service Ann has created here has been her vibrant teaching about the fundamental importance of libraries to the quality of people's lives. She has made it manifest that libraries stand for the essential necessity, intellectual and ethical value, and emotional meaning of knowledge and the human imagination. Ann has shown, through her words and her deeds, that libraries are actually a celebration and commemoration of just how widely and intensely the human creative spirit can travel; and that without public libraries, we would truly run the risk of being reduced to mere cogs in a wheel being operated without our consent or ability to change. I can say with great confidence that Ann's lineage will be communities of free people exchanging ideas and insights freely in a lasting building dedicated to all that is important and challenging to the human mind.

As Ann Penfield retires, it is only fitting that we express our tremendous gratitude, our profound respect for her talents, intelligence, and achievements, and our keen recognition that she has worked with exceptional dedication and ability to create a jewel of a library-this beautiful library that belongs to all of us. Thank you, Ann.

Alexandra Burack, Professor Emerita of composition & creative writing, The Learning Annex/CT, worked at Brainerd Memorial Library in 2006 and 2007. Her edited comments are taken from a speech she made on the occasion of Ann Penfield's retirement.