Du Quoin Library Director Retires
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Pam Urban admits attending William Woods College in Fulton, Mo. for the wrong reasons. "I learned to ride a horse English side saddle there" after graduating from Du Quoin Township High School in 1961. The 50th reunion of that class will be held this year.
The daughter of U.S. Air Force Captain Dr. and Mrs. William Leach, she grew up during what many believe to be a grander time in Du Quoin--when people sat on the front porch and just talked. "All the kids in our neighborhood were the same age and we all attended J.B. Ward School," Pam remembers. You could set your watch by the time her father hit the back door for dinner--6 o'clock.
Her life includes a Bachelor of Music Degree (Education) and a Master of Library Science Degree from the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) and almost five years working for Armstrong Data Services of Vienna, Va. where she was responsible for operations at the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund Records Centers. At the time (1995-1999) the EPA was in the throes of funding the cleanup of some of the nation's most toxic nuclear, chemical and ammunition sites--including the Crab Orchard site in Williamson County.
She also came within a heartbeat of working for the United States Center for Disease Control.
We know her as the Director of Library Services at the Du Quoin Public Library, a position she has held since November 2001. She retires this month, putting that role into the very capable hands of Kristina Haner Benson, the new director.
In retirement, Pam told library board president Joy Upton, "During the past nine years I am happy to say that our library has moved forward by leaps and bounds. It has taken a lot of hard work on the part of the board and staff, but we can be proud of our accomplishments. Our success can be credited with $98,604.52 in grants that we have been fortunate to receive."
"I have worked in academic libraries, EPA Region IV records and a public library and working with the patrons of all ages in each of these settings is the most rewarding. It is wonderful to hear that a student received an "A" on their paper having used the resources in our library and to hear a patron say that they can't be without their books during a pending snowstorm and to see the excitement in a child's eyes when they receive their first library card and to share a patron's excitement when he or she finally gets the job that required many hours on our library's computer and to hear a researcher "whoop and holler" after finding a relative (in the genealogy section) which has required several years of searching and many miles of traveling."
Pam has been stunning in her role as director of the library--highly intelligent, connected to both the history of this community and its current residents. "It's been a fun job with a good board. "We are the town's primary library for our senior citizens and our primary students and the backup for the town's school libraries," she said. She credits assistants Linda Campanella and Sally Cook for much of the library's success. " I enjoy people coming back to Du Quoin and coming to the library first," she said. "There's a sense of goodness about this library," she said.
She said the literacy programs, the children's programs and the partnerships with John A. Logan, SIU and the Shawnee library system have fully complemented her work and she is grateful.
"Half of knowledge is in knowing where to find it," she smiles. You can find a lot of it at the Du Quoin library.
She hopes and believes that a $20,000 federal stimulus grant is in the library's future.
She calls Kristina Benson "the next generation" who will be able to bring more technology, more grant money and a greater online presence to the Du Quoin library.
Kristina is certain to build on the great heritage of a library opened years ago in the building to the north that once served as the operators' switchboard center for the General Telephone Co. in Du Quoin.
Du Quoin owes you a great deal. A retirement reception will be held during an upcoming "Picture Day" at the library later this month.