DeMay steps down from role as director of Douglas Library

NORTH CANAAN — The Douglas Library exudes a warm, cozy feeling — thanks in large part to Director Norma DeMay, who for 28 years has welcomed visitors to the Main Street building. DeMay recently retired and was succeeded by Laura Moran, another familiar face who plans to continue that tradition.

DeMay recently reflected on the many changes during her tenure, particularly in technology. She recalls when the library had just one computer with dial-up internet. Since then, high-speed access and other innovations have arrived, allowing patrons to enjoy the same resources offered at larger libraries.

The library’s inviting atmosphere, — with its armchairs found among the nooks and crannies, and its extensive collection of books, magazines and audio materials, numbering about 20,000 volumes— is a focal point of the town.

While smaller than many of its counterparts in the Northwest Corner, the Douglas Library operates on a tight budget. It receives $100,000 annually from the town, which is supplemented with grants and revenues from fundraising. DeMay said understanding that North Canaan is not a wealthy town, and the mill rate is high, there were years she didn’t ask for an increase.

“I like to be frugal,” she said.

But that doesn’t preclude the library’s ability to have many of the offerings of a modern-day media center. It has Bibliomation, which is a non-profit consortium in Connecticut that provides a wide range of technical and automated services to its member libraries, such as shared online cataloging for searching and borrowing materials, IT support and a unified computer network for libraries across the state. The Canaan Foundation helps to fund this service.

It has the use of the interlibrary loan system, which enables readers to get books from other libraries. There are children’s programs, events for adults, Scrabble evenings and a book group. There’s a plan to add mah jong to the offerings. The upstairs houses the Charlie H. Pease Museum of Natural History featuring examples of taxidermied birds and animals.

Asked about what types of books circulate well, DeMay said prolific author James Patterson’s are always a favorite. Mysteries, literary fiction, works by foreign authors, especially British, and graphic novels for the young are all popular.

DeMay was raised in Wethersfield and graduated from the University of Connecticut as an art and English major. She’s taken some online library courses over the years. She plans to stay on to do the book ordering.

“I’ve loved my job,” she said, full of praise for her staff and board members. “I love chatting with the people who come in. And you can’t beat a 9-minute commute.” The mother of three, with three grandchildren, plans to spend time with her family, read, garden and hopefully do some traveling.

The beginnings of a North Canaan library can be traced back to William Douglas, a bookworm of sorts, who, when he died in 1821, bequeathed $800 to the town to establish a library. According to Kathryn Boughton, town historian, he split the money, with $400 going for the purchase of books and $400 for an endowment to build a future collection. At that time, the books were housed in the old town hall, a building close to the Douglas home, near the entrance to Geer today. The Douglas Library became a true library in 1895, when books circulated free.

There is much history involving the library when Falls Village and North Canaan split in 1858. In 1890, Mrs. Edmund Lawrence erected a small brick building on Railroad Street. When that space became too small, Samuel Eddy negotiated the purchase of Hattie Peet’s house on Main Street which was given to the town with the provision that the municipality maintain it. Since 1927, Douglas Library has stood at that site.