Jasper’s Director of Library Services retires
The Jasper Municipal Library is set to lose one of its long-time employees.
Judy Krefting, who has walked and stocked the stacks for the last 27 years, will put in her last day Oct. 31.
It’s a bittersweet time for the Director of Library Services, who in an interview Oct. 15 said she is excited to spend more time with her husband and grandkids, but will dearly miss the institution that she has given decades of her life to.
“I know I’m going to miss it a lot. I’ve already told my husband I’m going to be cranky for the first year or so,” she said with a laugh.
Krefting first got involved with the library in 1977, two years after moving to Jasper. At that time, her twins were young so she didn’t have time to work, but she wanted to be involved, and volunteered for the library board.
In 1987, the librarian position opened up, and Krefting, not knowing when it would be available again, jumped to fill it. Back then the library was a much smaller operation, run by volunteers, and was only open when someone gave their time to be there.
It is those people that Krefting remembers the most when she looks back on her time at the library.
She recalled an elderly woman who would come in and volunteer on Friday afternoons. Krefting was concerned that the busy rush of teenagers, flooding the space after school would be too much for the woman, and eventually approached her about it.
“I asked her one day if it was too busy for her, and she said ‘oh, I don’t let them in, I lock the door.’”
Krefting said she has many more joyous memories from the library, and although she had a hard time conjuring them up, the gleam in her eyes as she scanned the shelves of books said just as much.
She said working with volunteers was a real joy, because they were all there simply because they wanted to be. She pointed specifically to the friendship and wisdom of her former colleagues Olive Fisher and Lydia Long as major takeaways of her time as librarian.
“The people that I have met over the years, both locals and visitors, have enriched my life and I will miss that when I retire. I have watched children grow up and become voracious readers, drift away and then come back to the library later with their own children,” she said.
Krefting recalled watching the library grow a little each year; staying open a few more hours, joining the regional library system and receiving grants to upgrade to a state-of-the-art building.
But there were difficult times as well.
Krefting recalled the “Ralph Klein years,” when library budgets were slashed and it was all they could do to make ends meet. She also admitted that the last couple years have been challenging as well, as she and her staff have had to cope with a temporary space as they wait for the completion of the library and cultural centre.
“We walked in and it was a huge disaster,” she said of the space beneath the bleachers. “But we made the best of what we could about it, and it’s going to be so much better [once the new building is complete].”
She said that although some things have changed significantly, the core of what the library is has stayed the same.
Krefting refers to the library as the “living room of the community,” saying it is the place where people from all walks of life gather, and one of the few places someone can come and just hang out, with no one shooing them away.
She has watched people fall asleep in chairs, helped them print resumes for big jobs, and even given them someone to vent to when they’re feeling blue. Libraries are full of books, Krefting said, but it’s the people she worked with and met over the years that will have a lasting impact on her.
“I will miss the conversations I have with people every day: the seniors who come to sit and read the paper, the young families, and the young people who come to work here in our hospitality industry.
“I have been lucky to have a job that I loved getting up in the morning and going to everyday. I have had some of the best times of my life at the library,” she said, adding that she will remain involved with the library through its fundraising arm, Friends of the Jasper Library.
On Oct. 30 the library will host a farewell party for Krefting. The send-off will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Krefting said everyone is welcome to drop by to say farewell and snack on cake and coffee.
Trevor Nichols
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