Librarian Celebrates 20 Years of Service

Originally published in the May 14 edition of the Lake Villa Journal
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Librarian Celebrates 20 Years of Service

By DAN MORRIS

LAKE VILLA – Lake County was a very different place 20 years ago. Gurnee Mills was nothing more than a few square miles of swamp land, Grand Avenue meandered between corn and soybean fields, and Lake Villa boasted a population of not quite 3,000 people.

Amidst all these changes, one thing remained constant – The circulation desk at the Lake Villa District Library had Cindy McBrady behind it.

“I can’t believe it,” McBrady said of working for two decades at the library. “It all kind of has gelled in the past 20 years.”

McBrady began her career at the library as a circulation clerk on May 9, 1988. Since then, she’s risen through the ranks to become the assistant head of circulation services.

The job came out of a hot tip from her mother-in-law.

“[My mother-in-law] had a friend whose son was coming to apply, and she said, ‘No, no, no. My daughter-in-law would be better for this,’” recounted McBrady. The rest is history.

Before working at the library, McBrady taught as a substitute teacher at Lake Villa Intermediate School (now Palombi School) for a year. She then moved into speech therapy for two years. She then took some time away from the professional world to be a full-time mom.

When she decided to return to work, the opportunity at the library was too good to pass by, she said.

“I worked at the college library; I worked at the high school library. So, when this job came open it was like the perfect fit for me,” McBrady said.

Growing up in Antioch, McBrady was a voracious reader. She would spend hours reading. And she constantly checked out books, she said.

“I’ve always loved the library,” McBrady said. “I’ve always got a book with me.”

During her daily work routine, the veteran librarian manages the interlibrary loan program, administrates databases, and above all, caters to patrons at the circulation counter.

The past 20 years of service provide ample evidence of McBrady’s passion for sharing books, and encouraging children to read. Her manner, though, renders an undeniable enthusiasm for her work.

“I just love working with the kids,” she said when asked about her favorite part of the job.

For many, two decades mark the denouement in the story of their career. McBrady is still working up to her climax.

Instead of focusing on years past, or fading into retirement, she’s still taking things one day at a time.

In terms of what’s next, the librarian replies she’s staying put for the next several years, aside from next Saturday, when she’s picking up her daughter from graduation ceremonies in Madison, Wis.

Since 1988, many things came and went – Seinfeld, VCRs and the fall of the Soviet Union to name a few. Unwavering, McBrady still stands ready, book in hand, for the families of Lake Villa.