La Conner librarian stacks memories for retirement

Katryna Barber is closing the book on her latest adventure.

After six years as the youth reading specialist, starting at the La Conner Swinomish Library when it bore the name La Conner Regional Library, Barber has announced she is ready for the epilogue stage of a wide-ranging working life.

The former teacher, who once served on the library board in Woodstock, N.Y. – the town famous for the 1969 music festival – is retiring at the end of the month.

Her last day is Sept. 27.

"We will be celebrating Katryna all week," La Conner Library Foundation Director Sarah Rabel told the Weekly News. "We encourage people to come by the library during open hours, share a sweet note to Katryna in a journal we will have out and help us send her off in style.

"We all love Katryna," Rabel added. "When we heard that she was retiring, it was like, 'Why?'"

Barber said she has totally enjoyed her work here, so much so that even a well-deserved retirement can pale in comparison.

"It won't be as fun as working here," said Barber, who has no specific plans. "I'm considering my options."

Even so, she feels the time is right – given her excellent health – to step down and make way for the next generation of library staffers.

"I wanted to do this while I was still arthritis-free," Barber said.

Barber is now mentoring her replacement, Jinda Cowan, who worked at Seaport Books in La Conner and is pursuing a degree in the library field.

For Barber, whose college major was art, the library has been the perfect culmination of careers that have seen her do "a million things" at positions on both coasts.

"It all contributed to this being just about the best job I've ever had," she said. "This is a good one to go out on."

The favorite aspects of her work mission have been organizing summer student reading program activities, reading for preschool children and perusing as many of the library's volumes as possible so that she can provide insight into each for patrons.

"Getting to read books has been a great part of the job," Barber said. "It's been a big part of my job, to read."

Barber's landing at the library is the stuff upon which storybook endings are developed.

"We were new in town," recalled Barber, whose husband, Craig, is a contractor and accomplished photographer, "and my sister was visiting. She was in the library – she had borrowed my library card – and saw that they had posted a job opening for a children's librarian. She told me about it since it's something I'd always wanted to do.

"She reached out to (then-library director) Joy Neal," Barber recounted, "and said, 'Don't give that job to anyone else.'"

Barber's time here coincided with Covid.

"That was a really weird time," she said. "I changed books in the window displays a lot to let people know we were here. They could knock on the window and point to the books they wanted to check out."

Moving one block west to the new building at Sixth and Morris streets in 2022 was another highlight.

"That was something, moving from the old building," she said. "It was quite a sight seeing the kids moving books in their wagons. There've definitely been a lot of changes in the last six years."

She has not had a typical workday. Each has been different and many have provided anecdotes she won't forget.

A favorite was a discussion with a patron about a book she had been asked to read for a local book club. Shortly afterward, another woman entered the library.

"She said, 'I have a strange question – people say that all the time – and asked if we knew of a certain book for which she didn't know the title or author,'" Barber said.

She provided a brief description of the plot and Barber began Googling the information to see if she could match it with a title. Time passed with no results.

"The lady said she was going across the street to meet a friend," said Barber, who asked Rabel to help solve the mystery.

"Sarah typed a couple questions into her phone," Barber said, "and was able to come up with the title. And, wouldn't you know it, it was the same book that the other patron had talked about a couple hours before."

The lady was dining with her friend at the nearby COA restaurant. When the friend told her the book's title and author, "she jumped out of her chair," said Barber.

"And her friend said, 'Is this a fun town or what?'" Barber said.

With no shortage of more such vignettes, Barber could very well write her own book. Which, between gardening and reading, might be something for her to consider in retirement.