Wells retires as library director after 33 years
Assistant director to assume role on Dec. 3
Garland County Library Director John Wells confirmed Tuesday that he is retiring after nearly 33 years of service, and Assistant Director Adam Webb said he will assume the role on Dec. 3 with plans to “better serve” all parts of the county.
Webb said the library is a center of the community, which is why he wants to better serve all parts of it.
“Hot Springs Village, Lake Hamilton, even places like Mountain Pine, Lonsdale; those places are part of the county and we’re a county library, so we’re going to study how best to serve them, maybe move some staff around and see if we can start serving those places a little better than we are now,” he said.
Webb said being community-centered is essential to any library’s success.
“Someone in this book I’m reading right now titled ‘Palaces For the People’ talks about how public libraries are one of the last places where you can just exist without the expectation of paying for anything or doing anything,” he said. “Parks and public libraries are about the only place anymore where you can just go and exist. You can go to a library program, you can check out materials, you can use a public computer, you can just be around other people in a safe, clean environment.”
Webb said that in order to branch out, more facilities may be needed.
“As far as facilities, we’ve got a great big public library, but it’s just a single site and most communities of our size have multiple locations,” he said. “However, without raising taxes, that will be fairly difficult. … If we ever got to a time when we were wanting to raise a millage, or something along those lines, to either build a new library or provide more services here, we would probably call on all our friends to help us out because of the few conversations I’ve had with (Visit Hot Springs CEO) Steve Arrison and other folks around town, they all seem of the same mindset that ‘a rising tide raises all the ships.’”
Webb said he is passionate about helping the public and the role the government plays in making the community better and making citizens “like each other a little more.”
“We’re living in a day and age where it doesn’t seem like hardly anyone is getting along, but the library is a place where Re
publican women and the Democratic socialists both meet from every aspect and walk of life,” he said. “They all come to the library and it’s a place where people are still civil with each other, and I feel like it’s a big role that the library can fill in the community.”
Webb received a master’s degree in Library Science from the University of North Texas, and has worked at the library for the past 13 years — including three spent as assistant director.
He said while in his position as assistant director, he got a lot of “on-the-job” training.
“There’s been a lot of work that John’s pushed me into doing over the past few years to make me ready for this job, or any job that might be in my future.”
Webb said with close to 33 years of experience under Wells’ belt he made the job as director seem “effortless.”
“From his standpoint, he’s a great public face of the library. He sits our front with the staff and he’s right in the trenches with everybody everyday,” Webb said. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to do that from the very get-go. I might be a little bit of a back of the house guy until I figure out how to do this job the way that it needs to be done.”
Webb said he and Wells have different management styles, neither of which are right or wrong.
“It’s just different ways of managing and different ways of envisioning the library, and I guess what I want to do is what the library board thought was best for the library,” he said.