Myron readying to bid adieu to librarianship

(Photo by Kris Todd) Vicki Myron, the resident assistant director, director and "decorator" of Spencer Public Library for the past 25 1/2 years, proudly stands before the latest of many Christmas trees she's garnished.

Perhaps her favorite - "Professional is not a degree, it's an attitude" - was first heard uttered by her mentor, Dr. Roger Greer.

Another "Greerism" - "Who are these people and what do they want" - explains the Community Analysis Research Institute (CARI) model of studying communities, their residents and needs she's implemented into Spencer's landscape over the past 25 1/2 years.

Both have been passed onto a myriad of students who have enrolled in eight-week library management courses she's taught for the State Library of Iowa over the past 15 years.

Myron's 'back door' start

Born to parents Verlyn and the late Marie Jipson in Spencer, Myron was raised on a farm near Moneta with her five siblings - Val Bonney of Spencer, Mike and Doug Jipson of Florida, and the late David and Steven Jipson - until the family moved to Hartley in the early 1960s. After graduating from Hartley High School, Myron moved to Mankato, Minn., where she worked a line job in a manufacturing plant.

"I had a roommate there. We would go to work, come home, eat, change and go out dancing every night. I loved to dance. Dancing was what I basically lived for back then (in the late 1960s)," Myron recalled. "...I was even offered a job as a go-go girl in one of the clubs. That's when go-go girls actually wore clothes. Even though I was making $45 a week at the time, they offered me $300 a week. But I didn't do that."

Instead, Myron married and had a daughter before encountering "medical issues." After undergoing six surgeries within three years, she was forced to give up her line job. She recouped by starting a daycare in their home. When she and her husband divorced, Myron chose to pursue a college education at Mankato State in order to support herself and her daughter.

"I majored in psychology and women's studies and minored in anthropology and library science. I thought I was going to be a psychologist or a psychiatrist, but found out after I graduated that my degree didn't mean anything without an internship," she said.

Following her graduation, Myron moved from Mankato to Worthington, Minn. in 1982. A friend's husband had offered her an office managerial position there.

But, after renting her house out, moving back to Hartley to live with her parents and commuting for less than a week, she learned of an opening at the Spencer Public Library.

"So, I came into librarianship through the back door, actually. I never really planned on it," Myron said with a smile. "I had taken library science as a minor just to have something to fall back on, because I knew I could always work in a library if nothing else happened. Plus, I was the head (student) librarian at Hartley High School for three years under the staff librarian there. ... Here I am, some 30 years later, and I still love it."

Myron realized shortly after being named the local library's assistant director how little the job had to do with books and reading.

"From creating the library's newsletter and displays, starting the homebound program, visiting senior citizens and gearing up the teen program more, a lot of things told me that this was what I wanted to do," she recalled. "...This is such a varied job. When I might need an escape from budgeting and accounting, I can always do a display or go out and talk to a group in the community, lead a tour or write a long-range plan. I'm on a committee for the state now that's planning standards for libraries. So, it's been very varied, which has been the best part of this job. And, that's what's kept me going and kept me fresh all these years, the chance to do so many different things and use all those talents. That and the people have been the best part. And, I've got a great staff - they're like my second family."

When hired as Spencer Public Library's Director five years later, Myron was told that she'd have to also earn a master's degree. She, along with 55 other individuals from Iowa, South Dakota and Nebraska attended the first long-distance, American Library Association-accredited library science program offered by Emporia State University in Sioux City.

"The previous director, Bonnie (Pluemer) McKewon, lived in Sioux City, so I lived with her every weekend for three years. ... I finally got my degree (in September 1991). But the good thing about going to school while I was working here is that I could bring home fresh ideas for the library and put them to work immediately."

While still enrolled as a student, one of the first things Myron tackled as director of Spencer's library was remodeling the building.

"This entire building, inside and outside, was gray concrete back then. The only colors in the building were the orange carpeting and black furniture, so it was permanently Halloween in this gray bunker," she grimaced. "The library was not designed with the surrounding community taken into account, so one of my first goals was to take that '70s modern-minimal look and make it more homey, inviting and open."

Besides recarpeting, retrofitting shelving units, painting and carpeting the walls in warmer colors and enclosing the formerly-windowed north side over the next couple years, Myron also augmented the library's "homey" feeling by adding floral arrangements she'd handcrafted and by positioning more comfortable furniture throughout the building. She also added the library's unique version of the Dewey Decimal System, named Dewey Readmore Books.

"That was the biggest statement about home and inviting I could make," she said with a smile. "He fit right in with what I was doing. That's why I wanted to keep him."

The two biggest changes made during her tenure, however, Myron said occurred in 1994, when the library was automated and computers were brought in, and in 1999, when the ICN room and reading area were added to the infrastructure.

But Myron identified her two biggest memories over the last 25 1/2 years at Spencer Library's helm as happening on April 9, 1987 - when she was told she had the director's job - and again on Jan. 18, 1988 - when she found Dewey Readmore Books in the book drop.

"Those would be my top two days because they were both great," she said with a smile.

Topics for an upcoming book

Spencer's lead librarian remembers receiving permission to allow the young feline to reside in the building from library board members first. Their affirmative responses were followed by more of the same from the city attorney, city council and mayor.

"It wasn't a giant fight," Myron recollected. "...Most of all, they were just shocked that I was even asking. And, they didn't know, because they had never heard of it, really, so they didn't know how to react. But I knew the minute I pulled him out of the book drop that he loved people - so I figured he had the right personality for the library."

The relationships and stories that evolved between Dewey, patrons, staff personnel and visitors to the library over the next 19 years are innumerable.

However, Spencer Public Library's resident cat was put to sleep at Homestead Small Animal Practice last Nov. 29, after all options were exhausted to make him comfortable.

Dewey's unfolding tale has meanwhile turned into a $1.25 million book deal. Myron and Bret Witter of Louisville, Ky. have been working since April to pen the hard-cover literary work expected to eventually range between 200 and 250 pages. Spencer's library director hints that the upcoming book will blend the evolvement of three main components: the story of Dewey, her personal chronicle and Spencer's growth.

"I think it's a book that Spencer is going to be proud of," Myron forecast. "It gives a very positive outlook to a small town in Iowa that's not only surviving, but doing quite well."

The writing process, which has been cathartic for Myron, is nearing its end.

"Brett and I are on the fourth draft, and this will be the final draft. We've already received all the comments from the publisher and will probably be working every night this week to make last-minute changes. It will be finalized and to the publisher by Dec. 10," she said. "They are starting to talk about artwork, the cover and title now, but they don't plan on publishing, as far as I know, until the fall of 2008."

While Harvard Business School has taken the book on as a case study, with plans to start teaching that class this spring, Myron suggested the current writers' strike in Hollywood is putting a pinch on talks about a potential movie. Even without a written manuscript completed yet, she indicated two movie companies, one of which being New Line Cinema, are already scuffling over rights to it.

"My dad is the one who's most excited about this. He's already picking who should play him," Myron said with a chuckle as she revealed his first picks would be Brad Pitt and the late Walter Matthau.

What's on the horizon for Myron

According to the library director, she knows the time is right for her to retire.

"From starting as the library's assistant to being its director, it's been 25 1/2 years. In any one place, that's enough," Myron said while seated at her office desk Monday afternoon. "I've put 110 percent of me into this place, and I can't go at that speed anymore. So it's time for somebody else to take over the reins."

"I'm looking forward, actually, to a new director coming in here," she continued. "That's partly because of my health, but also because I think it's time for someone with a new eye to come in and have their fun in starting something new, and maybe giving the place a different look and going off on their own direction."

Following the public come-and-go reception for Myron, which is set from 2 - 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 14 at Spencer's library, she acknowledged she still intends to remain involved in the "library world." Myron's plans are to continue teaching Public Library Management 1 classes for the State Library of Iowa and serving as a consultant for the Northwest Iowa Library Services.

"I've already consulted with a few libraries around here on decorating and making their library, or some room of it, more inviting and more open. I've also consulted on other issues, such as behind-the-desk and office stuff, budgeting and those kind of things they don't teach you in school," she said. "Kay (Larson, Spencer Library's assistant director who has been named to serve as the interim director upon Myron's official retirement) has twisted my arm and made me swear that I'll come down and decorate the Christmas tree for at least a few more years. I told her I would help her as much as I can, and the new director also - if he or she wants my help."

Myron acknowledged she's also looking forward to being able to spend more time with her family. Jodi Carlson, her daughter who teaches special education courses at an Omaha high school, and her husband, Scott, have two children: 3 1/2-year-old twins Hannah and Nathan.