By Carol P. Bartold

Jul. 6, 2016:  An important era will end for many Bronxville Public Library patrons when reference librarian Patricia Root retires on July 15. Since joining the library staff part-time in 1988 and full-time in 1989, Pat has been the "go-to" person for answering reference and research questions.

Pat noted that her position at the library has been "definitely an education." Her job, she said, has kept her close to books, reading, and learning all the while. "I feel good about the work," she said, "because I have helped people find the information they need. They're so happy when you help them."

"I have always liked libraries," Pat said. "I have a sense of well-being in a library."

Pat remembers a special orange book in the children's corner of her hometown library in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, that became one of her favorites. "I can't remember the title of it, only the color," she said, "but it was about Lewis and Clark and Sacagawea. That was a favorite book when I was a child." After she outgrew her love of that orange book, her favorite adventure book became The Royal Road to Romance by Richard Halliburton, copyright 1925. "Patrons have told me they loved it too," she added.

Pat's path to her library career began after her youngest child entered kindergarten. "I came along in the 1950s when a woman could be either a nurse or a teacher and I was neither one." She finished her bachelor of arts degree at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and went on to Drexel University to earn a library science degree. "After that, I went to Villanova University and got a master's degree in political science."

"With that combination of degrees, my first job was in the Biddle Law Library at the University of Pennsylvania Law School as the law reference librarian," Pat said.

Pat remembers, at the beginning of her career and even at the start of her tenure in Bronxville, answering reference questions using printed materials. "When I was at Drexel, computers were just coming in," she recalled. "I was fortunate that I went to work when I did because, if I had waited a few more years, I would have been behind in learning computer skills."

Although she sometimes uses Google as a place to start in answering research questions, Pat said she is "always thrilled when I can answer something with a book or other print material." She added that she believes books will continue to exist. "We'll have our computers and our books," she said.

Libraries are not going away, Pat believes, even though the services and materials a library provides have changed. She pointed out that the Bronxville Library's side porch now holds audio-visual material and that the library staff is on hand to help people with their e-readers. The library provides computers on-site for patrons who don't own their own computers.

"I think people will always need a quiet place to come to," Pat said. "Libraries provide that." She went on to say that the library's primary function is as it always has been: to provide a calm place for people to enjoy and to have books, print books, available. "I guess I'm somewhat old-fashioned!"

Pat praised the Bronxville Library staff as a great group of people to work with. As for retirement plans, "I have none right away except to get used to a calmer schedule."

Pictured here:  Pat Root at the Bronxville Public Library.

Photo by A. Warner