So much more than books: Lori Ann Barnes retires after 17 years of leading the Vail Public Library
Among her many accomplishments, Barnes is most proud of her efforts to revitalize the Friends of the Library and to launch One Book One Valley
Lori Ann Barnes/Courtesy Photo
When Lori Ann Barnes looks back at her nearly five-decade career in libraries — the last 17 of which have been at Vail Public Library — one emotion overwhelms all the others: pride.
Barnes recently announced that March 21 would be her last day serving as director of library services for the Vail Public Library. While she plans on staying in Gypsum and volunteering with the library, her decision to retire is rooted in wanting to spend more time with her family, including her mother, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“I’m so proud of this; I really, really am,” Barnes said. “I have so enjoyed my time working for the town of Vail and I am deeply proud of my accomplishments that I consider the legacy that I leave behind.”
A career in libraries
Barnes was born in Rhode Island but moved to Colorado in sixth grade. Growing up, Barnes had a love of books and reading.
“My mom always knew that it would be books,” she said of her future career.
Support Local Journalism
When Barnes started attending the University of Colorado in Boulder, however, she explored everything from orthopedic surgery to Swedish. Ultimately, Barnes graduated in 1979 with a degree in Spanish.
Throughout her undergraduate education, she worked at the university’s Norlin Library, which helped her get a job in 1979 at the Auraria Library in Denver in its tech services department. Working behind the scenes with librarians sparked her interest in pursuing the career professionally.
“I wanted to be in libraries, but I wanted to be a professional so that I could wear the title and do what I wanted to do,” she said.
And so in 1980, Barnes started pursuing a master’s degree in librarianship and information management. A single mom of two at the time, Barnes continued working at the Auraria Library while pursuing her degree.
Around this time, Barnes recalls that a librarian took her aside and said, “‘Lori, you don’t want to do this. There’s no money and there’s no satisfaction.'”
Fortunately, Barnes’ desire to pursue the career outweighed this warning, because decades into her career in the field, she has only one comment: “Baloney.”
“I’ve had such fun and I’ve worked with so many amazing people.”
In 1985, Barnes graduated with her degree from the University of Denver with her mother, sister and two daughters cheering her on. Not only was the graduation a moment of significant pride but “it was the beginning of a love affair,” she said.
“My dream was to be a director of a small public library,” Barnes added.
That dream would first come to fruition in 1999 when Barnes became the director of the Borough of Caldwell Public Library in New Jersey. Between graduation and the job in New Jersey, Barnes also worked at the Aurora Public Library as a cataloging and processing coordinator, then as the head of shared copy cataloging at the Bobst Library at New York University. Following Caldwell, Barnes served as the director of the Borough of Oradell Public Library in New Jersey.
All of these positions brought her experiences and knowledge that would eventually serve her as she made her way back to Colorado in 2007.
“I was looking for a job in Colorado because I needed to come home for family,” Barnes said. “I interviewed at three places, and Vail made an offer. I’m so glad they did.”
Coming to Vail
From Barnes’ first day in Vail, she had big hopes and dreams for improving the library’s reputation and making it a welcoming environment for the community.
“When I came this was a whole different place, we had to make some changes,” she said. “We had to become more welcoming, our memberships were too strict, it wasn’t public-oriented and we didn’t have interlibrary loan — we weren’t playing in the sandbox like we should.”
Cricket Pylman, the former children’s librarian at the Vail Public Library, said that for almost years, “patrons who didn’t live in Vail were not welcome to have library cards. The town of Vail Library was just that — part of the town of Vail.”
One of her first initiatives was to ensure that the word “public” was included in the library’s official name.
“I think her legacy is making our library ‘public,'” Pylman said. “Lori arrived and worked to change that right away. I believe, and sincerely hope, that all members of our valley know this is their library.”
Jo Norris, who was hired by Barnes in 2007 and still works part-time at the library, said this “actually signified a huge shift in how this library was going to operate.”
“I really wanted to increase our reputation. I wanted people to think that there was a good place, that you could come here; you were absolutely welcome,” she said. “We’ve been working on that welcoming message for years.”
Over the years, Barnes worked to implement additional programming, increase regional collaboration and bring the community into the library.
“Together with the excellent Vail Public Library staff, Lori has added interesting and varied programs to enhance the schedule of story hours, book clubs, and shows by local artists,” said Charlyn Canada, the former director of the Eagle Valley Library District. “I care deeply about the Vail Public Library, and I have always been confident in its growth and development, and in its model of service to Vail and to our neighboring communities with Lori in charge.”
Under Barnes’ leadership, the library underwent a significant renovation, joined an interlibrary loan program with the Marmot Library Network, created the annual summer reading program, implemented radio-frequency identification and self-check technology, saw the revitalization of its Friends of the Vail Public Library Group, created space to celebrate Vail’s history with digitization of the Vail Trail newspaper and Vail Valley Voices oral histories, built the One Book One Valley program, launched a StoryWalk at Bighorn Park, and celebrated significant milestones and anniversaries.
For Barnes, all of these items were accomplished as a “we,” calling attention to the library staff and community members who helped bring them to fruition.
“There’s such a wonderful sense of community here,” Barnes said.
Beyond reading
Barnes’ influence extends outside of the Vail Public Library building and into the community. When asked to describe Barnes in a few adjectives, her friends and colleagues described her as determined, passionate, caring, inspirational, energetic and upbeat, intelligent, innovative and involved.
Magda King, the general manager of Antlers at Vail, met Barnes when she helped the hotel set up its internal literacy program.
“She made available so many wonderful programs, including a program called ‘Common Cents for Colorado,’ which taught us how to prepare a budget, how to save money, and modestly how to invest,” King said. “Out of this program, two of our staff members were able to apply for home loans and get their first home. The impact was tremendous.”
“She has brought creative programs to the community (for adults and children) from literature, art, music, deep meaning topics and such.”
From Barnes, King said she learned that it is never too late to start doing anything you want — including everything from reading and writing to working out.
“Her creativity is immense and she truly pushes you to become more literate, which translates into being more educated, tolerant, cultured, kind and caring for the community,” King said.
Pylman said that Barnes “loved it when we would get out of the library and make community connections.”
“She is the hardest-working human ever,” Pylman said. “I don’t believe she sleeps or eats, she even works while on ‘vacation.’ She is dedicated to Vail Public Library, she loves collaboration and encouraged it.”
No matter what it was, Barnes’ passion for the community and library shined through.
“I don’t know if Lori was ever a cheerleader in school, but she has been a cheerleader for Vail’s library,” Canada said. “Lori has shared her joyful personality and her love of librarianship with the community, making her a service professional of the highest order.”
Creating a lasting legacy
Among the many accomplishments, there are two that Barnes sees as her legacy: revitalizing the Friends of the Library and One Book One Valley.
Barnes was instrumental in bringing back Friends of Vail Public Library in 2010. The Friends serve as a volunteer and fundraising arm for the library, helping promote and improve library services, materials and facilities. It was through the Friends that many of the above programs and projects could be accomplished.
Barnes was inspired to start One Book One Valley after seeing a similar program in Denver. The community-wide reading initiative is now in its 13th year and offers yet another opportunity to bring people together.
Both of these are incredibly important to Barnes as she considers her legacy.
Barnes’ peers and friends pointed both to the way adult and children programming flourished under her as well as to how her joy and passion came through in all that she did.
Make staying informed the easiest part of your day.
Sign up for daily or weekly newsletters at VailDaily.com/newsletter
“Lori’s legacy will be that she taught us to be the hardest working person behind the scenes. I know many times she did so much for so many (including her staff) without telling anybody that she was the one who procured the change, improved things, had the vision, etc.” King said.
“Lori should be remembered and honored for growing Vail Public Library into a premier resort library that is welcoming to our guests and supporting the needs of our community,” Norris said.
At the heart of all that Barnes accomplished is the notion that libraries are much more than books.
“Libraries are not just a building where you know we dish out books and you come in and use it. Libraries are about reaching out to the community,” she said. “I think I’m just so proud of this building. You can walk in here any day and look around, and the amount of kids that come in here, people are using us, people find us. It is just a good place.”
