Library honors those who make its success possible

Retiring director Sue Crites Szostak was honored Saturday at the Poplar Bluff Municipal Library Foundation’s banquet and awards ceremony. Meanwhile, trustee John R. Stanard was named Community Partner of the Year and Pat Cozart was honored as Outstanding Staff Member.

In surprising Stanard with the new award, Szostak said during his 24 years of dedicated service as a library trustee he had facilitated both the expansion of the library in 1997 and its full building renovation in 2008.

Stanard advocated at the state legislature, enabling the library to shift funding from property tax to sales tax, she said. This tripled its annual revenues. He also helped secure the deed to and ownership of the historic Downtown library building and property.

“Today, we honor one who has given dedicated service providing a lasting heritage for the Poplar Bluff library,” Szostak said. “It is appropriate this person and family has been involved in the Poplar Bluff library. Along with the library, the family’s business grew and prospered in Poplar Bluff. This person’s vocation was dedicated to First Amendment rights and recognized that we serve everyone.”

She added, Stanard believed the library could not grow and prosper without a steady revenue stream, and the history of the community and the library contributed to growth and prosperity. He also believed the library’s Board of Trustees and a dedicated staff are the masters and mistresses of the library’s destiny.

“This belief did not come about accidentally,” Szostak said. “The family has been involved in library service for nearly seven decades. They have been employees, members of the Friends of the Library, on the Library’s Foundation Board, but not the least of which is members of the Board of Trustees.

“For over two years, our honoree worked with the previous director, Jackie Thomas, to create special legislation and convince lawmakers of the importance of revenue growth, allowing the library to ballot voters in 2012 to levy a quarter-cent sales tax,” Szostak said. “His work boosted the passage of the tax with a whopping 72-plus percent approval. As a result, the library has grown, increased its services, and reached out to a six-county service area at no additional costs to the users or taxpayers.”

Szostak stands out as one of the most memorable community leaders he has worked with, library board president Mitch Davis said, in honoring Szostak.

“Her passion and work ethic set her apart from many of her contemporaries,” he shared. “Sue was always straight to the point. She was also a tough negotiator. I sat through multiple meetings with her as we negotiated deals and she was so effective I’d start to feel sorry for the person on the other side of the table. Then, I’d have to remember I was on her side.”

Szostak believes the library is not an institution in isolation. If harnessed correctly, it’s part of a community’s center, he said, explaining, her tenure marked an expansion of partnerships and a healing of relationships.

“Speaking of Ridgel, this underscores her desire to elevate underrepresented groups. While the Board of Trustees gets credit for naming the branch after Dr. Gus T. Ridgel, it was Sue who advised us to do so,” Davis said. “This building is the first and only building in this community named after a local African American. We’re very proud to have made history by honoring Dr. Ridgel here locally.”

Mentoring her successor, Shannon Midyett, was among Szostak’s greatest accomplishments.

“I had an orientation meeting with Sue and Shannon,” Davis said. “I was so impressed with how well they worked together. Where one left off, the other picked right up.

“They were a dynamic team who balanced each other so well. Sue made it one of her top priorities to grow Shannon. Their partnership is a model for how executives should work together to advance the interests of their organization.”

Szostak’s a natural born librarian, Midyett said.

“She has a lifelong love and passion for libraries and believes wholeheartedly in the transformative power of reading, lifelong learning, and how free and open access to the world’s information through your local public library can elevate a life, a community and a society,” she said. “As such, Sue has always exhibited a voracious commitment to library service, always looking for new ways to bring value, grow, expand and enhance offerings to the patrons and communities the library serves.”

Perhaps the only thing Szostak loves more than libraries is growing more librarians, Midyett said. She has served as a mentor for generations of students and up and coming library professionals. During her time as director, she instituted an educational assistance program at the library. Over the last two years, two staff members have completed their masters in library and information science.

Midyett was one of the two and added, “I will be eternally grateful for the care, support and guidance Sue has shown me and that has made it possible for me to reach both my personal and professional goals.”

In presenting Cozart’s award, foundation vice president Bill Hirtz said, “A library’s greatest resource is it’s employees, and we wish to put a spotlight on those people for the growth and reputation of our library.”

Cozart’s main duties at the library are in human resources.