in Chatsworth, Grey Highlands, Southgate, West Grey
November 28, 2024
BY JOHN BUTLER — Jeff Rosenburg, the new Chief Executive Officer and Chief Librarian of the Grey Highlands Public Library, loves information. He also loves teamwork.
After a 22-year career in information technology with the Bluewater District School Board, Jeff started a second career by joining the Grey Highlands Public Library in 2022 as Branch Manager of the Walter Harris Memorial Library branch in Markdale, and technology lead for the library system that constitutes branches in Flesherton, Markdale and Kimberley, and an e-branch as well. “The transition from school board information technology to library management wasn’t as big a leap as it might seem,” says Jeff. “My information role with the Board focused on the user-facing side of the job — a relationship much like the relationship with library patrons.”
What has satisfied him the most as Branch Manager has been its team-building component — the opportunity to give the library’s team a sense of greater autonomy and ownership of the work they carry out. The branch work also involved a number of facility projects, including expansion planning, renovation of its boardroom and the acquisition of videoconferencing equipment and a 3D printer.
He loves his work. Although he stresses that books are still at the core of the Library (its “bread and butter” he says), Jeff has a special interest in the “beyond books” components of modern library service, including child, adult and community programs, directing local residents to community resources (he cites in particular the role the Library plays in assisting immigrant residents) and acting as a community hub.
Much of Jeff’s life has been spent in Grey County. He grew up in the Williamsford area and he now lives with his family near Holland Centre. Jeff says an enduring attraction of this part of Ontario is the opportunity to be involved in family-oriented community activities. In his own case, minor hockey and baseball resources and activities for the community have taken up much of his spare time (both of his teenage children, a boy and a girl, are involved in hockey.) He also points to the friendliness and mutual help components of the area where he grow up and the areas where he now lives and works. He recalls vividly the way the community of Williamsford and vicinity mobilized for mutual help a number of years ago when a tornado hit the area. Jeff also remains attracted to the sheer beauty of the area — and not least, its absence of traffic jams, and the opportunity he and his wife Alicia have to walk their young border collie in the relative freedom of the countryside.
Casting his mind to the future of the Grey Highlands Library system, Jeff foresees continued development of teamwork and teams within the library’s staff and volunteer components. Since these people are the public face of the library, says Jeff, enhanced teamwork will manifest itself as enhanced service to library users. He also expects that continued technological improvements will be part of the library’s future — including the adaptation and use of artificial intelligence (AI), although the full impact of AI is hard to predict at present. He also expects that the concept of lifelong learning will shape the learning resources the library provides to the community, even more than it has in the past.
When asked what advice he would give to a young person contemplating a library career, Jeff says he would make them aware of the full range of career paths in library services. Are you interested in community engagement? Library work may be for you. Do you enjoy working with children? The library has it as a career path. Are you attracted to collaborative problem solving? If so, libraries have a place for you. Jeff points out that the diversity of library careers is not as well known in the community as it should be.
In terms of the challenges facing his library system, Jeff says the smaller resource base for a rural and small-town library system pose challenges, including the challenge of doing more for less. But he doesn’t see that as a disheartening challenge. Instead, he sees it as the engine for creativity, and an opportunity for teamwork and innovation within and beyond the Library to work its magic. And in Grey Highlands, this magic can help the Library — and the broader community — deal with the growing and increasingly diverse population base that is Grey Highlands of the future.
Jeff stresses that while the evolution of the Grey Highlands Library system is inevitable, it will be built on the broad shoulders of past Library staff, including its past leaders. He credits past Chief Librarians Jennifer Murley and Eleni Hughes for charting the pathway he can follow and extend as he leads the Library in partnership with staff, board members and the community.
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