Carol Vaughan Kissane describes the Linda Sokol Francis Brookfield Library as “the heart of Brookfield.” As Kissane steps down this month after 44 years as a library trustee, you could describe her as the heart of the library.
It is a remarkable record of service and accomplishment by Kissane, who certainly has stories to tell but is fully focused on the future of Brookfield’s library. She recalls that she joined the library board in 1981 when the library had one window air-conditioning unit and one electric typewriter. And she describes the string of special projects that kept her running for reelection over the decades. It was the search for a new library director or remodeling the old library. More recently, it was building the new library.
“With the new building, I wasn’t going to turn it over to someone new. I had to stay to see it through,” she said.
Kissane says the perpetual remaking of library technology has been the constant theme across her years of service. Toni Hergenrother has worked at the library since 1986 and sat in on our interview with Kissane last week. She described Kissane as a force to be reckoned with during her board service.
“I always thought she was pushy, but things got done that way,” she said. “She had a voice, and she used it and got things done.”
Now, as she is leaving, Kissane remembers positively her role in the statewide library association and marching in the 4th of July parade as highlights. But she also touts the wonders of the new library, the wide range of programs and services it offers, the technology and the breadth of the collection and the intense use its meeting rooms and study rooms get each day.
We join the community in thanking her for her enormous service.
