Mary Richards retires from library

Originally from Brighton, Colo., Mary Richards moved to Custer in June of 1972—the year of the big Rapid City flood. Richards worked various jobs in Custer before beginning her career at the library as a part-time employee Jan. 25, 1996.
She had no previous library experience but was eager to learn and do a great job. Over the past two decades, she has flourished in our community library while serving patrons of all ages and personalities.
Richards held various other jobs at the same time she worked part-time at the library. She delivered pizzas for Pizza Hut, sold insurance from the upstairs of the old sheriff's department, cooked at the senior center and ran advertisement tapes at the radio station.
Richards shared a funny incident that occurred while she worked at the radio station. While broadcasting Our Redeemer Lutheran Church’s Sunday sermon, they would occasionally experience dead air. She would race over from the radio station and remind them to turn on their microphone to fix the problem, then race back to the radio station to ensure all was well.  Her juggling of multiple jobs ended when the library was able to offer Mary a full-time position Oct. 10, 2000.
Over her tenure, Richards has seen many changes at the library—both in its physical space and the services it offers.
She remembers when the library had no lobby area, no office space and no story-time room. She has helped with a lot of rearrangements of the library over the years. Now, as she ends her career, she is a part of the library’s latest expansion project which added a dedicated book sale area and meeting/study rooms where the community can take advantage of the library’s free WiFi.
Richards recalled the time when the library received its first patron computer. It was a great service added, but the computer was so slow that patrons only got about 16 working minutes out of the 30 minutes allotted and tracked on an egg-timer.  Now, the computers are much faster, patrons can use them longer and they are equipped with a time management system, eliminating the need for the egg-timer.
When asked what she will miss most upon retirement, Mary easily replies, “the patrons.” Her regulars.
When you have a job so central to a community, it is easy to become a part of the day-to-day-lives of those you see. She has loved and appreciated the involvement in the lives of each patron she has served and will dearly miss that contact.  
Richards’ last day at the library was Nov. 20. A reception was held at the library that day to celebrate her time at the library, which was almost 25 years.
—By Sarah Myers