Skip to content

A town square for an unsquare town

redbankgreen

Standing for the vitality of Red Bank, its community, and the fun we have together.

RED BANK: LIBRARY DIRECTOR TO RETIRE

e-mcdermott-050115-500x375-7219395Elizabeth McDeromott, center, at the 2015 Red Bank Mayor’s Ball. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Elizabeth McDermott, who guided the Red Bank Public Library through perhaps the most turbulent chapter of its 81-year history, will retire at the end of June.

An ex-software industry consultant who changed careers well into adulthood, McDermott announced her retirement in the spring issue of the library’s newsletter, out this week.

rbpl-staff-041917-2-500x375-4023655McDermott, right, with children’s librarian Sira Williams, left, and adult services librarian Linda Hewitt in 2017. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

“I guess I did what I needed to do,” McDermott told redbankgreen. “The library’s pretty successful.”

A former globetrotting employee of software giant Oracle, McDermott was pursuing a Masters in Library Science when she landed a part-time job at the borough library in 2008.

She became library director in 2014, and helped steered the institution past a period of tumult that included layoffs and a mass resignation by nearly all of the library’s trustees.

Throughout, McDermott projected an air of calm, developing a strategic plan to attract private-sector funding beyond the statutory amount provided by borough taxpayers and reorienting the facility for coming years.

The library emerged from the crisis with a much smaller staff and curtailed operating hours, both of which have been bolstered under McDermott’s tenure.

“The building didn’t fall down,” McDermott told redbankgreen in early 2015, alluding to earlier predictions of fiscal doom. “In fact, we’re growing.”

At the same time, she elevated the library’s commitment to preserving local history, in formats ranging from recorded interviews with elderly residents to digitized high school yearbooks.

In the Internet era, “providing a place of learning, of stimulation, of comfort and culture requires quite a juggling act,” she wrote in the newsletter.

McDermott got a standing ovation at Wednesday’s council meeting.

“You stepped up to the plate when things were really sketchy,” Council President Ed Zipprich said to McDermott from the dais. “We wouldn’t be where we are today without your leadership.”

McDermott said she has “some big European travel plans” and expects to volunteer at the library beginning in about six months. Her successor will be selected by the trustees.

Remember: Nothing makes a Red Bank friend happier than to hear "I saw you on Red Bank Green!"
Partyline
RED TRUCKS AT RED ROCK
A small dishwasher fire at Red Rock Tap and Grill was put out quickly by firefighters overnight, causing minimal damage. Red Bank Fire Depar ...
CREATIVE COVER UP
The windows of Pearl Street Consignment on Monmouth Street were smashed when a driver crashed their car through them injuring an employee la ...
THEY’RE BACK!
Ospreys returned to the skies over Red Bank this week for the first time since they migrated to warmer climes in late fall. With temperature ...
SPRING IS SPRUNG
RED BANK: Spring 2024 arrives on the Greater Red Bank Green with the vernal equinox at 11:06 p.m. Tuesday.
RED BANK’S FINEST – AND NEWEST
Red Bank Police Officer Eliot Ramos was sworn in as the force’s newest patrolman Thursday, and if you’re doing a double take thinkin ...
EASTER EGG MAYHEM AT THE PARK
An errant whistle spurred an unexpectedly early start to the Spring Egg Hunt on Sunday, which had been scheduled to begin at eggsactly 11am ...
PRESEASON DOCKWORK
RED BANK: With winter winding down, marina gets ready for boating season with some dockwork on our beautiful Navesink River.
CORNED BEEF AND DISCO FRIES?
It’s Friday, and smart Lent-observing Leprechauns know the pot of gold at the end of Red Bank’s rainbow is actually the deliciou ...
SURFBOARD DITCHED
It’s a violation of etiquette in surfing to ditch your board.  (it could hit another surfer and hurt them). But someone appears to ha ...
ELSIE, TAKE ME WITH YOU!
Soaked by pouring rain with the temperature hovering in the low 40’s, this sign in the window of Elsie’s Subs on Monmouth Street ...
WALK THIS WAY
PARTYLINE: Before-and-afters of a sidewalk cleanup on West Street.
SOGGY NOTION
RED BANK: Breezeway sculpture captured the mood downtown as heavy rains fell Saturday morning.
HOME DELIVERY
RED BANK: After a subdivision, an instant house rises on a new Catherine Street lot.
COMMUNITY PROFILES
For Black History Month, Red Bank's Community Engagement and Equity Advisory Committee has been running a series of local profiles on Facebo ...
HEARTY FAREWELL FOR HARDY
RED BANK: Council to honor DPU supervisor Rich Hardy, who retired recently after almost 39 years of keeping things running.
HOMEBOUND? READ ON…
RED BANK: Can't get to the public library? It's now offering free delivery and pickups for homebound borough residents.
TAMING A BEAST OF A WEEK
RED BANK: After the second snowfall of the week, a borough family finds the perfect use for it – a Godzilla snow sculpture.
RED BANK: LIBRARY CLOSED, BUT THE HILL’S OPEN
RED BANK: Though the library was closed by a snowstorm, kids got to enjoy the riverfront property's steep slope Tuesday.
LIGHT(HOUSE) MAKEOVER
This year, getting ready for spring means a midwinter makeover for Strollo's Lighthouse in Red Bank.
TODAY: LOCAL PUPPY COMPETES ON ANIMAL PLANET’S “PUPPY BOWL”
Red Bank’s very own rescue puppy, Biscuit, is set to compete in Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl this Sunday, February 11, at 2 PM. Th ...