Great Barrington Library Trustees Lose Director and Assistant Director in Single Meeting

GREAT BARRINGTON -- May 17, 2023, Great Barrington Library Trustees elected officers and absorbed the resignations of both their library director and assistant director in a single meeting. Board Chair Patrick Hollenbeck was unanimously re-elected chair and new trustee Rob Shafer was appointed treasurer at the May 17 meeting, but the session turned on Library Director Samara Morin's announcement that she is resigning, calling herself "not the right fit," and Assistant Director Talia Liodari's disclosure that she will leave June 23 for a curator post at the Stockbridge Museum. The departures imperil the library's pursuit of a Massachusetts public library construction grant that could cover roughly $4 million of a minimum $5 million Ramsdale Library renovation, a grant Hollenbeck says Ramsdale has never actually applied for despite two prior town-level attempts that fell short. The library also faces an October 1 deadline for a strategic plan required to access any state Library Services and Technology Act grants, a process Hollenbeck noted the library has not completed since 2017.