Long career comes to an end

After more than two decades of serving the library in various positions, reference librarian Micki Gilmore has retired.

Gilmore has worked at the Sweetwater County Library since 1992, where she started out subbing. In 1993, she moved to a permanent part-time position in circulation and in 1998 she became a full-time employee.

Throughout the years, Gilmore worked in various positions, including outreach and the bookmobile, web master for the new website and then she settled into the reference librarian position.

With each position, Gilmore learned a lot and enjoyed each one.

"They're all my favorite in a way," Gilmore said. "I love working with people. It's really rewarding helping people."

What she liked most about the outreach program was the elderly people she served. Gilmore was also well-known at the library for her genealogy classes and blogs and the Ghost Logs and blog she kept track of.

"They let me write what I knew," Gilmore said. "The blogs for me were that creative outlet."

Another area Gilmore liked to help out with, were the different displays the library does. The most recent display and probably her last one was a photography display. She said all of the cameras in the display came from library employees.

Although Gilmore is excited about her retirement, she wasn't excited about why she had to take it early.

"I didn't have a choice with leaving. It came earlier than I thought," she said.

Gilmore has been on medical leave since May 6. She said although her health problems are not life threatening, they became serious enough that her doctors finally told her she had to quit her job. She knew the doctors were right as each day at work seemed more and more of a struggle.

She is going to miss the people she worked with and the patrons who visited the library.

"I love the staff. We are kind of like a little family," Gilmore said. "We are close and we look out for each other. It really makes for a great work environment."

Gilmore was working with other library employees on a book about the unexplained occurrences that seem to happen at the library. Gilmore and the other employees would still like to complete this book.

One area Gilmore is hoping continues when she is gone is the library's Ghost Log book. Since 1993, the library has kept a ghost log book, which has entries from patrons who believed they experienced things they couldn't explain.

Gilmore was also known for hosting and getting volunteers to help out with the Ghost Walks the library hosted. Over the years, these walks became more and more popular.

Gilmore said she hopes Bianca Jorgensen, who is taking over the Ghost Log book and Ghost Walk tours, will have the support she needs to continue those.

With this retirement, Gilmore plans to spend more time with her husband, Richard, and sons, Wilson and Kyle.

She also plans on continuing her genealogy research and taking photos. She would like to travel more and start sewing or quilting again.

"I'm just not one to sit," she said.

If her health does start getting better, Gilmore would like to volunteer to host genealogy classes at the library.

"I always loved working for the library," she said.