Don’t be surprised to spot Hartford Public Library’s new CEO, Bridget Quinn-Carey, checking out books, iPads or DVDs to library visitors one of these days.
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Don't be surprised to spot Hartford Public Library's new CEO, Bridget Quinn-Carey, checking out books, iPads or DVDs to library visitors one of these days.
She plans to work the front desk for about an hour every week or so to meet the public, get to know staff and see what's working well or not so well.
Quinn-Carey — who started work April 11 and whose career includes running library systems in Iowa, Essex, Buffalo and Queens — calls her management style open and participatory. She began “Lunch with Bridget,” a monthly drop-in for staff to talk with her about anything.
Check out the video Executive Profile below left with Bridget Quinn-Carey.
“What I hope that builds is a trust between us because I want to hear their ideas … their concerns,” Quinn-Carey said.
Learning Campus for All
That inclusiveness mirrors her opinion of a library's vital role in society — a learning campus for all. She stresses its role in early literacy, afterschool enrichment, technology access and training, work readiness and more.
“Libraries really are an integral part of the learning environment of a community. We are the great equalizer and that helps everybody,” she said.
They help bridge the digital divide, bringing free technology to people who might not otherwise access it. They provide e-books, e-magazines, e-content for research, and stream audio and video, while preserving physical content.
“All of the people who predicted the death of libraries with the Internet couldn't really have been more wrong because we are just as busy, if not busier, in some elements of the services that we provide,” she said.
As COO for the Queens Public Library for five years until March, plus interim president and CEO the last 1½ years, Quinn-Carey said she joined that library during deep budget cuts that reduced staff and hours. She worked with library stakeholders to demonstrate library benefits and there was a “historic restoration of funds” before she left. She now faces similar budget pressures in Hartford.
“Learning how to work with the community, to have them help us advocate for the needs of the library, that was really transformational because it put the power in their hands,” she said.
Passionate about her role
Jerry Nichols, director of the Palmer Institute for Public Library Organization and Management at Long Island University, called Quinn-Carey a strong public administrator and exceptional librarian, “passionately dedicated to the mission of the public library and it's critical role in its community and in our American democracy.”
Nichols, who was a consultant and trainer for her staffs in Buffalo and Queens, said Quinn-Carey “is a team player, but will stand up and fight for the library and for the people it serves.”
Quinn-Carey, 47, also has library construction experience, timely as UConn plans to remodel two floors of the central library for classrooms and other use as part of its new downtown campus.
She's excited by the partnership and envisions student opportunities to mentor and serve as role models for youth.
CT Experience
Quinn-Carey returns to Connecticut after serving early in her career as interlibrary loan coordinator with the Connecticut State Library and nine years running the Essex Library Association before Buffalo and Queens. She and her husband, Jim, an attorney, and youngest daughter, 14, moved from Long Island to Essex last August. Quinn-Carey commuted home on weekends.
The couple — whose oldest daughter, 20, attends the University of Maine — will establish a Hartford residence.
Her jobs around the U.S. made her a better leader, she said, “and you can draw on the good and the bad from all those different experiences.”
Revelations at Queens about the former CEO's allegedly questionable spending on library credit cards that got him fired and also raised questions about some of her expenses — she contends all were legitimate — taught her the importance of good policies and internal controls.
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