But not until after the opening of the new library next year. That will be the final feather of a more than 35-year career.
By PAM LEAVY
Published August 15, 2004
LARGO - After leading the Largo Library system for more than 35 years, Barbara Murphey can't wait until a new, $20.9-million library opens next spring.
But Murphey plans to retire in August 2005, just three months after the new facility opens.
The feisty, outspoken, gracious woman known statewide for her fierce advocacy of public libraries says she harbors no regrets about retiring.
"I think that I'm just glad I'm going to be there when it opens and that's the positive side," she said of the 90,300-square-foot facility, called by officials "the living room of the community." "I am really delighted that we are going to get it open before I leave."
Murphey, who is nearing 65, looks forward to traveling the South Pacific, including Hawaii and Australia.
And she has already tapped her successor, assistant library director Casey McPhee.
"When you're confident there's somebody who can take it over, that's the best you can do," Murphey said.
Murphey's legacy could present a tough act to follow. She has stood toe to toe with her detractors and shoulder to shoulder with supporters. About 25 years ago, Murphey pushed to move the library from a small room on a Largo street to the current 36,000-square-foot East Bay Drive facility. Over the years, the library developed a statewide reputation for its genealogy collection and eclectic materials.
Largo hosted 505,000 visitors in 2003, with registered borrowers totaling more than 64,277, 52 percent of them non-Largo residents, a figure Murphey offers proudly. Years ago, she typed the first draft of a controversial agreement that led to the successful 1989 referendum providing countywide library service for most Pinellas County cities and unincorporated area residents.
"I was willing to lose my job over some of these things," she said. "I had to take a stand. I don't ever feel I was doing it for personal gain or control. You have to fight for education. You have to think from the public's perspective."
Murphey has served as a marketing advocate on the Pinellas Public Library Cooperative, a coalition of 19 municipalities designed to increase book purchasing power and improve interlibrary loan and information networks. In 1984, she led the Tampa Bay Library Consortium as its president.
She takes care to share credit for her achievements with library staff and city officials.
Largo City Manager Steve Stanton praises Murphey's service. He had to negotiate for the new library while some city officials questioned its cost and viability.
Former Largo city commissioner Marty Shelby had first supported the library but then called it too big, overdrawn and undebated.
But Murphey, supportive community members and supportive city officials prevailed.
"Simply stated, this library wouldn't be built if it wasn't for Barbara," Stanton said. "She probably has been the most dedicated department director that's worked for the city, not to diminish the contributions others have made to their departments."
The library is Murphey's family, he said.
"Barbara is professionally devoted and involved in a personal way," Stanton said. "In many ways that facility will be as much a positive representative of the community as a product of Barbara Murphey's contribution to the community."
In addition to wings for children and adults, the new library includes a cafe and Internet technology.
Libraries have traditionally been reading rooms for people without newspaper subscriptions and now provide the Internet and Web technology for people who need it, Murphey said.
She also sees libraries coexisting successfully with bookstores.
"A bookstore and library could exist in the same space very happily," Murphey says. "I buy books. Do I have access to a wonderful collection? Yes, but I buy books."
A used bookstore is operated at the Largo Library by the Friends of the Largo Library, a volunteer group that supports the library and has raised thousands in personal donations for the new facility.
Rena Stevens, immediate past president of Friends, credits Murphey for the library's progress.
"I doubt seriously that the new library would have progressed as far as it has had it not been for Barbara Murphey," Stevens said. "If you look at the library, we presently have no one who could possibly have done as much with that library as she did."
Henry Schubert, Largo assistant city manager, is managing the library construction project. He predicts it's on schedule for a June 2005 completion. The library is going to be a destination point that the city will be proud of, one that bears Murphey's design imprint, Schubert said.
"We are building a library for the 21st century, designed for Internet access, extensive use of electronic media with quite a bit of space allocated for meeting rooms and quiet meeting rooms," he said. "It's all oriented around people. Barbara Murphey and her staff were very much involved in the design from the beginning."
Madison Mosley, director of the Stetson College of Law library, serves on the Florida Library Association board. He has worked with Murphey and was surprised at her retirement announcement.
"She's a pioneer with her service to the community and getting the community involved to support the library," he said. "That's attested by the list of donors to the new library. She's been in the position for a long time and there's a lot to say for longevity."
