Edith Wheeler Memorial Says Goodbye to its Children's Librarian

Edith Wheeler Memorial Library's Children's Librarian Adrienne Wilson did her last story-time, reading to a group of toddlers from Gingerbread Schoolhouse Thursday.

"The kids laughed and we had fun," Wilson said during a Friday telephone interview. "And I almost cried after."

After working at the library for nearly three years, Wilson, who recently gave birth to she and her husband Jon's first child, decided to resign to spend more time with their daughter, Dymphna, who is now nine months old.

A pizza party was held in the library meeting room Friday, as co-workers bid Wilson farewell. However, Wilson said she will pop in as a substitute librarian from time to time.

Wilson said Dymphna has a good babysitter, but that her daughter is often on her mind at work and by the time she gets to her Fairfield home, she would spend about three hours with her baby before putting Dymphna to bed.

"It's very hard being here full time," Wilson said. "Although I love my job, it's very difficult. You're very lucky if your husband is in a position where you can stay home."

Jon does coding at Environmental Data Resources in Milford.

Wilson plans on doing more than taking care of her daughter.

"I'm going to lose this baby weight," she said with a laugh. "The next time they see me, I'll be skinny."

'To me, it's a vocation'

Wilson said her decision to leave her position at Edith Wheeler Memorial Library was an extremely difficult one. The warmer months are approaching, but she said she has already planned programs for the entire summer, so that her eventual replacement will not feel as overwhelmed.

Wilson said she and her husband may have more children, adding when the children are school age she will definitely look into being a librarian part-time.

"For sure, librarianship is a vocation," she said. "To me, it's a vocation."

Wilson said she started out shelving books at Kenosha Public Library in Wisconsin, where she was employed until she was 25. She went to library school, before assuming her first supervisory role at Park Forest Library in the south suburbs of Chicago from 2005-2007, before coming to Connecticut.

When asked what she will miss most about Edith Wheeler Memorial Library, she said, "The kids," without hesitation. But she has also enjoyed the daily interaction with her co-workers.

"This is the best library I ever worked at in my entire life," Wilson said. "There is no politics. Everybody in this library loves each other. We are a family and we have the best boss in Margaret Borchers."

Wilson said Edith Wheeler Memorial Library's staff has birthday parties for each other and that they had a baby shower for her during her pregnancy.

"They're sad to see me go," she said. "But they're happy for me too."