Algonquin library director who spear-headed $6.7M renovation to retire

ALGONQUIN – Algonquin Area Public Library District Executive Director Stephen Bero said his work with the district is done.

The two tasks Bero was charged with when he became interim director in 2014 are complete, and he is set to retire Oct. 31.

When he began, the library board told him to start planning for a major renovation of the library’s facilities and to mentor Assistant Director Sara Murray in preparation to take over his position.

With the $6.7 million redevelopment project underway and Murray ready to take over, Bero said he is ready to take on a new challenge.

“I’m proud of the construction project and that I was able to shepherd and lead it through the planning stages,” said Bero, 62 of Round Lake. “That will go down in history as one of my proudest accomplishments. But I’ve also enjoyed working with the staff. It was easy for me to take the job because I fell in love with them and felt like we were a good match.”

Bero began as interim director in October 2014 as the board looked for a replacement for retired administrative librarian Lynn Elam. Trustees told Bero to create a succession plan including Murray, who was interested in the position but did not have enough experience at the time.

The three-phase project – which will add an 8,000-square-foot addition to the main library and renovate the interior of its branch library – broke ground in August. Construction is expected to be complete by next July.

What got him into the business in the first place is what he said he’ll miss the most: being surrounded by books.

“I’ve been a book lover since my childhood, so this was a dream job for me,” Bero said. “That magic of walking into the library every day and being surrounded by hundreds of thousands of books – I’m going to miss that, and it won’t be the same.”

Although Bero said his personal library at home is pretty good, it cannot compare with the huge public libraries he has worked at in the past.

He previously oversaw another renovation project as executive director of the Warren-Newport Public Library District in Gurnee for 10 years. He also served as the director of the Brookfield Public Library in Brookfield for four years.

Bero said he has increasingly given Murray more tasks to do to get more training and exposure. Looking to the future, Bero said he remains confident that Murray will do a great job.

He said he also is seeing an uptick in development in the area in the past few years, and thinks it is a good sign for the library district’s advancement.

“With the new building, we’ll be able to supply even more new services, and Sarah will bring some of her own innovative ideas,” Bero said. “One of the drivers for the new project was to stay on top of the latest technology and automation, and I think we’ll see that with new technology spaces in the building.”