by Caroline Gabsewics
Staff Writer
After working for 35 years with the Jacksonville Public Library, Margaret Nooney Smith has seen more things change than stay the same.
She has seen hundreds of employees come and go. She has worked in all three Downtown libraries. And, she’s seen everything that goes on behind the scenes at a library change over time. But there’s one thing she would not change: what she does and who she works for.
Smith, currently an administrative supervisor overseeing 10 branch libraries, has done everything from running for hot apple pie and cinnamon ice cream to being the head of the circulation department.
Smith has worked at the original Carnegie main library, Haydon Burns and now the new Main Library. She is the only library employee who has worked at all three libraries.
“I have had a variety of jobs within the library and I am still having fun,” said Smith. “I enjoy talking to people and making the library work. When it stops being fun then I will move on.”
Smith began working at the Carnegie main library the last summer it was open in 1965 as a page while she was on summer break from the University of Florida.
“One of my most important functions as a page was fetching food at Walgreens. There was a Walgreens where the 11 E. parking garage is now,” she said. “I always had to get hot apple pie and cinnamon ice cream for the librarians, but I never remember eating any of it.”
On Nov. 12, 1965 the Haydon Burns Main Library opened. Smith’s first day of work after graduating from college and completing library school was on Jan. 4, 1971. While Smith worked at the Carnegie library she had a variety of different jobs until the library closed its doors one last time on Sept. 3, 2005.
Over the years, Smith was a reference librarian, head of the children’s services program for eight years, fine arts librarian, worked at different branch libraries for eight years, senior librarian of government documents, and she was head of the circulation department for four years. When she returned after working at a number of branch libraries she came back as the head of 10 branch libraries.
“I pretty much have done the whole gamut of jobs,” she said. “There was always something new to learn.”
Throughout those 35 years a lot has changed within the library system as well as outside of the system.
Smith said in 1968 when the City consolidated (the union of governments of Jacksonville and Duval County) the library system changed.
“It provided free library services for everyone in the county, because before then there were library cards and if you weren’t living in the city limits then you had to have a library card that cost $2 a person,” she said. “It was quite a celebration.”
Branch libraries have been popping up all over Duval County and Smith said they are exploring other areas to build more branches. Currently there are 20 branch libraries, 21 including the Main Library.
“It has taken between 1972 and 2005 for the City to be caught up with providing library service in all corners of Duval County,” said Smith. “The Better Jacksonville Plan helped us renovate 12 branches and helped build six new ones.”
One of the biggest changes that has taken place since Smith began working was the invention of the computer. Smith said many of the jobs at the libraries went from manual to computerized in October 1985.
“I never want to go back to pre-computerized days, it was very labor intensive work back then,” she said. “The computers haven’t replaced people, it’s just a different type of work now.”
Smith added by having computers, there is a different group of people who come to the library now. And library usage has gone up since computers made their way into libraries.
Smith added that she thinks both librarians and customers have matured over time.
“I just think people are more sophisticated now and if they see something somewhere they use a computer to find it,” she said. “Librarians are more sophisticated now, too, because they have had to learn about more and different resources to find people answers.”
Smith could go on and on with her stories about working at each of the three main libraries, but there are few that stick out in her mind.
“When Haydon Burns opened, that was huge,” she said. “I remember having to go down in the basement before it was open for the public, it was just storage at first and it was intimidating. I’d get lost.”
Smith said there was a second entrance to the library on Forsyth Street but it was never open to the public. That second entrance was called the “Mayor’s Gate,” she said.
Today, Smith has a new office in the Main Library and she has seen a lot change Downtown in just a few months.
“This building gives us so much to be proud of,” said Smith. “People are coming Downtown now and there is not one day where I don’t see families taking pictures of ‘Wisdom’ (the owl).”
Today, Smith no longer runs for hot apple pie. Instead, she now runs from branch to branch if she is needed. Since she oversees 10 of the branch libraries she is on call 24-7 if there are any problems, she said.
“I have learned something new everyday since I have been working for the library,” she said. “Hopefully my longevity and knowledge will help others find solutions and fix problems.”
She added that many people who work in the library are retired from first and second careers where they were anything from teachers to executives.
“People are retiring and working in libraries now,” she said. “It has always been my profession and I have a hard time imagining doing a different job, because people look at this as the ideal job and I am already there.”