Deputy Director Retiring From Great River Regional Library
Deputy Director Verne Oleksowicz is retiring July 31, 2009 after being with Great River Regional Library (GRRL) for 26 years.
Oleksowicz left a county library in North Carolina to move to Minnesota when he was hired as the GRRL Extension Services Librarian in 1982. He supervised activities in all of the branch libraries other than St. Cloud. In those days, the library system had no computers and there was no central online catalog. The library did have a mail-a-book program and bookmobiles that toured the region. Managing the distribution and rotation of books and “phonograph records” to maximize equal public access was a major challenge. He became the region’s Deputy Director in 1987, a capacity he maintained under four directors.
He has been active in the Minnesota Library Association (MLA). In his early years he served MLA as co-chair of the mobile services round table. He was vice-chair of the MLA Legislative Committee in 2006 and chaired the committee in 2007. In 2008, as past MLA legislative chair, he served as Minnesota's state coordinator of the American Library Association's National Library Legislative Day.
Oleksowicz does not intend to retire to a rocking chair. “I’m going to take some time to relax, but then I’ll look for opportunities to serve the community,” he said.
