Library aide checks out after four decades of service
EPHRATA – The community’s longest serving practitioner of the Dewey Decimal System has called it a career.
On Friday, Oct. 17, Kathy Treiber checked out – metaphorically speaking – when she retired after 40 years with the Ephrata Public Library.
Her co-workers and several friends of the local library honored her with a farewell luncheon that featured flowers, cards, and lots of stories on how times have changed over the past four decades.
“It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long,” she said.
During her tenure, Kathy worked with five different supervising librarians, beginning with Rowena Christensen and ending with her current boss, Aaron Loeffelbein.
“None of us can think of this library without thinking of Kathy,” said Loeffelbein, who remembered her when visiting the local branch as a child with his mother.
A 1979 graduate of Ephrata High School, Kathy initially served as a volunteer in the early 1980s, then got hired as an assistant in 1985 when a job opened up.
A year later, the locally operated library – then located one block south of the Grant County Courthouse – joined the North Central Washington regional library system and moved into its “new” space, the former Ephrata city fire hall on North Alder Street.
“I remember when (the regional system) took over. We had a library board and a few people on the board did not want that,” Kathy recalled.
Back then, library materials were cataloged with 3x5-inch index cards and books were checked out with stamped return-date slips placed in sleeves on an interior cover. All of the books were purchased by the local librarian.
Compare that to today’s digital world, with the availability of both print and audio books and thousands of other offerings: music, movies, periodicals and reference manuals, streaming services, and online education courses.
Kathy admitted the technological transition “came hard for me,” quipping that when she was in high school, “We had manual typewriters.”
But the best part of the job has been “working with people,” said Kathy, who remained modestly quiet and consistently helpful throughout her tenure.
“You did this library proud,” Loeffelbein told her.
Kathleen Allstot, a retired teacher/librarian for the Ephrata School District and a current member of the NCW Libraries’ board of trustees, told Treiber, “It will be (odd) to come to the library and not find you. You helped my kids, and their kids.”
Kathy said she had no big plans in retirement and will remain in the community.
“I have two older parents. I’ll help with that,” she said, adding, “But I’ll be back.”
Loeffelbein replied, “We’ll be okay with that.”
