Beloved children’s librarian rides into the sunset
CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Trish MacGregor has told her final story at the Stratford Public Library (SPL) – and now the word that comes to mind for her is “gratitude.”
“So much gratitude, so much gratitude for the team here at SPL and for the community of Stratford,” MacGregor said, speaking with the Times on her last day. “I just have had really a dream job, and it has been such a pleasure. … I've had the pleasure and the joy of connecting with different communities throughout the county. And so, as I wrap this career up, I just am filled with gratitude and joy and emotion. It is bittersweet, for sure, because it's hard to say goodbye.”
MacGregor was the children’s librarian at the local library and coordinated programs and collections for the Public Library On Wheels (PLOW). She was with SPL for 22 years, originally hired in 2004 for PLOW before transitioning into her role overseeing the children’s collections and running the many programs for children the library offers. She retired last week, doing her last Whale of a Tale reading Sept. 28, where children came to hear her read one of their favourite stories, as she has for years now.
MacGregor’s job, both with PLOW and the children’s section, was to create connections. She would travel Perth County with PLOW to introduce the library to people who haven’t discovered it yet, “plant seeds of literacy and learning” in them and build a bridge that led back to SPL.
And, of course, to tell a good story. MacGregor, as perhaps Stratford’s pre-eminent expert on telling children’s stories, shared some trade secrets.
“Whether you're reading with one child or a group of children, your best bet is to make choices of what they're most interested in, and how they like to learn,” MacGregor said. “… I love to choose stories that always gives the child or the children a role, and so they're very involved – even when we had many, many children this summer, sometimes we had 50 and 60, 70 children.
“… Whether it's repetition and giving them a line or looking for something, hunting for something, make them part of it because that shared storytelling creates not just literacy and learning, but also the bond and the excitement and the joy of reading.”
Despite being located in the basement of the library, the children’s section gave MacGregor a unique vantage point over Stratford, one very few people have been blessed with. As the years went by and Stratford evolved, MacGregor was there for it all and had a front row seat. She watched connections be made by strangers, families connect and the city’s youth grow.
At her last Whale of a Tale reading, MacGregor had three generations of past attendees in the audience. Children she used to read to when she first got started came by with their own children, now fully grown. Their parents who brought them all those years ago to the library were there again, but this time as grandparents.
After a career of building relationships, those connections have been able to tell MacGregor exactly what she meant to them. The library put out a notice in the weeks leading up to her retirement, asking the public to send MacGregor letters. Generations of readers have reached out since.
“I will be reading them over and over again – I was reading them through tears, of course. Yeah, it was such a gift … It just speaks to the impact that libraries can have on community, and luckily I was part of that. And to hear their stories, there were stories of people saying that they came to Stratford during the (COVID-19) pandemic, and that was a hard time for all of us. A very shared experience, but everyone had unique stories at that time, and the library found a way to connect with people even when we couldn't be in person, and I was lucky to be able to be part of that.
“The library, over the 22 years I've been here, has evolved so much as the communities have changed,” MacGregor said. “The library has changed with the community and offered more and more. It's just growing, and it's been such an exciting place to work … I'm very excited for the future of Stratford Public Library because the team here is amazing and I know great things are to come. The person who is the children's librarian is just wonderful and I'm very excited to see all the great things that are ahead for this library.”
Comments