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Show April Harrison to Retire From PG City U. .HI'. V,; . I i ' i ,- ; i -r , i.i J yy - x ... ' f ' by Mary Burgin Most of us change careers ca-reers many times between our high school years and retirement. retire-ment. April Harrison is the exception to that rule. She has been employed at the Pleasant Pleas-ant Grove Library throughout the years, watching the city change and grow over those many years. Harrison has been the head librarian for the city since 1991. Additionally, since last August she has taken tak-en on even more responsibility responsibil-ity when she was appointed as the Arts and Cultural Director. She said her beginnings, however, were humble as she worked during the summers when she was in high school and then college in the small soft rock building on 100 East that now contains a business. She married and had her children and life went on. One day, however, the head librarian librar-ian at that time, Dot Smith, told her that the new library on Center Street would be completed the next year and the city would be hiring more staff. She applied and went to work part time again for the library. Smith subsequently retired, re-tired, and Jean Gifford became be-came the head librarian. Harrison Har-rison said she worked for her until Gifford's retirement four years later. Harrison, through her experiences ex-periences working at the library li-brary as well as her education . at BYU and raising her own family, helped to give her a vision of what a forward-thinking forward-thinking library could do for a community. "I love the vision and imagination that can promote reading and learning," she said. "I have been fortunate to have had staff with both those talents!" She said that the library doesn't just provide books, but more importantly, "creates enthusiasm for learning. learn-ing. It is well known that if children participate in summer reading programs, it keeps those skills at a higher level." Harrison observed that the programs at the library have been a group effort between not only those that work for the library, but also those that volunteer their time. "When I first started in 1987, we had four staff members mem-bers and now 26 part time and two full time work at the library. li-brary. These employees are dedicated to serving the citizens citi-zens and it is amazing how each have such talents and abilities that make the library a fun, fantastic, place to come and learn. It has been an honor to work with these individuals that are so dedicated to serve the library and its mission.," April commented. She said that since she has been over not only the library, but also the city events, arts commission and historical commission, she is constantly reminded that everyone ev-eryone brings something different dif-ferent to the table. This has served to broaden her own views and helped to recognize recog-nize and appreciate the amaz- April Harrison, Head Librarian for PG City, is set to retire after sen'ing for 22 years in that capacity:. oJpQ aiy ing pool of volunteers in the community. "I love what I do in that I am able to work with the two things I love which have been books and kids together," she said. These programs involve in-volve small children up to the READ group, which average age is 83. "I have been able to watch the progression of the library. I am always excited because literacy is never obsolete," she observed. She noted that the bank of computers at the facility are always in use. Also, the ability of patrons to download books on their electronic elec-tronic devices as well as many other services has been very important to the community. "The library becomes the great equalizer for the community com-munity by providing these and many other services to those that perhaps wouldn't "April" continued on Page 7 "April" continued from Page 1 have access otherwise," she said. City Director Deon Giles has worked with Harrison Har-rison for many years and said he has been constantly amazed by the diversity of services that the library provides. pro-vides. He said that Harrison has kept up with the technology technol-ogy needed to provide these services. He said there isn't only books involved, but many other forms of media. "She and her staff have brought a program to the library li-brary whereby patrons can use their PG library card at other Northern Utah County Coun-ty libraries to check out books," he said. "This has expanded the ability of residents resi-dents to be able to utilize the facilities not only in PG, but also in other libraries," he said. He said that he has really appreciated Harrison and her ability to stay up with and many times ahead of the current cur-rent trends in what a library can provide for a community-Harrison said one of her favorite programs is the literacy lit-eracy program. She said that '. ' the kids that participate in the program are brought up to and many times beyond their grade level in their reading ability. She said that in the last year, "it has been an eye-opener eye-opener as to what it takes to make a community." She said each volunteer brings another perspective. "These people are dedicated and talented. They are invaluable," she said. Harrison is also excited in watching the younger generation gen-eration step up. "I value these new generations and their fresh perspective," she said. "I value what everyone every-one does. Everyone around the table is important!" she said. She said she doesn't know for sure what the future holds, but she feels it will be exciting. She added that there is a need for "a building that is more adequate to serve our community.". She said this has been a long-standing concern con-cern and she hopes a resolution resolu-tion will come soon. So what will Harrison do when she retires on Saturday, Satur-day, September 14, 2013 after heading up the city's Jubilee celebration? "I want to do what Marjorie Peay Hinckley said she would do once she turned 80. I want . to eat when I want, sleep when I want and do whatever I want when I want to!" Enjoy, April. ...you've earned it! |
