After 20 years of service, Greenwich Library Director Barbara Ormerod-Glynn announced she will retire at the end of 2022.
The Board of Trustees named Joseph A. Williams, currently Deputy Director, as Greenwich Library’s new Director.
During her tenure, Ormerod-Glynn oversaw a renovation of the Byram Shubert Library, as well as development of the Health Information Center and Technology Training Center. She identified the need for a Main Library Master Plan, which led to the Reimagine Renovation, an $18 million project largely completed during the COVID-19 pandemic and closures. Ormerod-Glynn also led the process of identifying a new concessionaire for the Café at Greenwich Library, creating a meaningful partnership with Abilis and local businesses. Since reopening, the Library has hosted exceptional conversations and performances in the new Berkley Theater and Marx Family Black Box Theater. Greenwich Library has been named a five-star library by Library Journal eleven times since 2009.
“I feel incredibly lucky to have worked with Barbara,” says Peggy Edersheim Kalb, President of the Library Board of Trustees. “She is unbelievably dedicated, a leader with an incredible depth of knowledge, and a true collaborator. The Library is well positioned for a successful transition led by Joe Williams, with a newly completed Strategic Plan that prioritizes reconnecting with the community.”
After earning her degree in English Literature at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in New York City, Ormerod-Glynn earned her Master’s in Library Service at Columbia University. She spent the first 19 years of her career at Morgan Stanley, advancing to Vice President of Library Research and New Issues Database Groups before joining Greenwich Library in November 2002 as Manager of Resources Management. She began serving as the Library’s Deputy Director in January 2005, and nine years later, she took over as Director.
Joe Williams obtained his bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Geneseo in History and Political Science. He also has master’s degrees from Queens College in Library and Information Science as well as in History. He worked as the College Librarian for Briarcliffe College for two years starting in 2006. In 2008, he joined SUNY Maritime College as its Head of Technical Services and Collections before being promoted to Assistant Director. In 2014, he joined Greenwich Library as its Deputy Director where he has served in that role through 2022.
The Library’s board retained Bradbury Miller Associates, a search firm that specializes in library recruitment, to conduct a nationwide search for a new director. Peggy Edersheim Kalb and Tom Heagney, past President of the Board of Trustees, served as co-chairs of the search committee; along with Library trustees Hank Ashforth, Seung Bak, Karen Keegan, Philip Lochner, and Diana Seaton.