Director of Jefferson-Madison Regional Library John Halliday announced he will retire at the end of the calendar year after 20 years of service. Halliday has been the director of JMRL, one of Virginia’s largest public libraries, since 1997.
Halliday said, “It has been an honor and a pleasure to help provide library services for the wonderful citizens of our area.”
Library Board President Brian LaFontaine said, “Though we celebrate in his retirement, Director Halliday will be sorely missed. His vision, leadership and passion have helped develop JMRL into a library system of which we all should be proud. Under his administration we have seen state-of-the-art libraries constructed, the implementation of new technologies for our patron’s use in their quest for knowledge, and a never-ending effort to improve the quality and accessibility of our services for all within the JMRL system. Director Halliday has brought JMRL to a new level of quality and respect.”
The Library Board of Trustees and Halliday will meet in late May to discuss the process of hiring a new library director. The process will take about six months.
LaFontaine said, “We anticipate a nation-wide search with the objective of hiring the best qualified candidate.” He added the Library Board will encourage applications from qualified in-house candidates.
Halliday received his graduate library degree from Rutgers University and came to JMRL from Washington State where he managed a county library. During his tenure at JMRL the use of library services saw tremendous growth. 2016 was the busiest year in the library’s history based on the number of books checked out and the number of people attending library programs.
Halliday said, “Working with the library’s staff, board, local governments, and citizens has been a great joy, but now it’s time to do other things and make room for someone else to lead this terrific library system.”
JMRL serves the City of Charlottesville along with Albemarle, Greene, Louisa, and Nelson counties.
