TERRA ALTA — Ima Thomas is one of a very select group in Terra Alta.
“There’s only been four of us,” Thomas said, referring to Terra Alta librarians over the course of the library’s 48-year history.
The other three were Rosemary DeLauder Sigley, Lois Sereno and Juanita Gardner.
An open house to celebrate Thomas’s retirement was held Saturday.
Karen Chroussis is taking over as the fifth librarian. Also on staff are Tracey Keller and Rhonda Glover.
“She’s the type of person that if you need something, she’s there for you. She’s just a very, very nice person,” Chroussis said. “I don’t think she ever met a stranger. Anybody would come in here and when they left she was their friend.”
Thomas didn’t plan to be a librarian. She had worked since she was 15, and when she was laid off from Preston Miller’s grocery store, she applied for unemployment for the first (and only) time in her life.
To qualify, she had to apply for at least two jobs. Her second stop was the library.
“I stopped in, and when I got back out in my car, I thought ‘Hey, I just got a job,’” Thomas said.
That was 32 years ago.
She was hired by June Frazee to work on the circulation desk. Three years later Gardner retired, Thomas stepped into her position, and Frazee’s daughter, Sharon Haskiell, took Thomas’s former job.
For her, it was fun.
“I love the kids, and a lot of the kids who used to sit on our laps and we read to them and played with them, now they have children and they bring their kids in,” Thomas said.
Meeting new people is also something she enjoys, and Thomas and her fellow workers strive to make the library a welcoming place.
“We’ve always said someday one of these kids is going to be in our positions. And we wanted the kids to come in and play and have a good time and read. That was always one of our things was to make them and their parents feel welcome.”
When the library moved in 2000 to its current location, closer to Terra Alta East Preston school, it also became a more convenient resource for students, Thomas noted.
Of the past and future
During her tenure, Thomas has expanded the library’s genealogy offerings. When she started, local obituaries were cut from all the area newspapers and put into one file. She alphabetized them by date and put them in notebooks.
There’s also a section of histories of local families, many donated by the families. Some are actual books and others are collections of copies of documents, photos and information gathered by the family.
The school section has old photos and yearbooks. Through a grant the library was able to put vintage copies of the Terra Alta newspaper on microfilm to make them more accessible.
People from about 40 of the 50 states have used the genealogy section, and donations of materials are always accepted.
But history isn’t the only story on loan at the Terra Alta Public Library. It has more than 1,900 DVDs, nearly 150 CDs and about 150 VCR tapes. Yes, VCR tapes are still requested by patrons.
Thomas has been passing on all this to Chroussis.
“She was a wonderful teacher,” Chroussis said. “Her mind is like a vault. She remembers things and of course she always told me she was just a phone call away, which she was.”
Thomas will still be on hand from time to time to finish some projects, and she hopes to soon resume meetings of a monthly Terra Alta group she started, that allows people to share information about their town.
“I’ll still be involved,” Thomas said.
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