A lot has changed at Parmly Billings Library over the last 40 years.
They've upgraded technology, brought in new equipment, moved from a card catalog to a fourth-generation computer system and made numerous improvements, but, until Friday, at least one thing always stayed the same.
Employee Kathy Jones retired from the library Friday after working there for just a hair more than four decades — she worked an extra three days — fitting of a long career neatly filing and organizing books.
"I like things orderly and neat," Jones said. "Orderly would be 40 years on the dot."
Officials believe that nobody has worked at the library as long as Jones.
"For us, this is probably the longest we've ever had," said Bill Cochran, the library's director. "It's pretty unusual for a city employee."
Jones started at the Billings library as a page on Jan. 25, 1971, while in her early 20s after working at the Rocky Mountain College library. Over the past four decades, she has worn many hats, working as a bookmobile clerk, a reader's adviser for adult fiction, at the circulation desk and, for the past 10 years, as a reference librarian.
She said she'll miss the patrons and her coworkers, many of whom also have several decades of library service.
"But I won't miss the books," Jones said with a grin, "because I'll be here on a regular basis. I'm a patron now."
Cochran and Gene Robson, a 38-year library employee, said Jones' straight talk, little customs and inside jokes will be missed.
Every New Year's Eve, staff gathered after the library closed at the top of a circular staircase and tossed the old year's calendar down to the floor, Robson said.
"There's lots of stories and little traditions that have grown," she said.
Friday afternoon, several dozen people gathered on the library's third floor to send Jones off. Apart from the requisite cake, cookies and coffee, tables featured photos of Jones along with a few inside jokes, including a vase of flowers that has been at the library for more than 10 years.
Normally, when a longtime employee leaves the library, the staff puts together a photo album of their time there. But in Jones' case, something happened that, once again, the library has never seen.
"For her, we had to make two," Cochran said.
Forty years is a long time at just about any job, something Jones is the first to admit. Robson said Jones' love of reading, a strong knowledge of fiction and an irreverent sense of humor may have played a role, but Jones said it was something else.
"It just happened one day at a time," she said. "And now it's 40 years later."
As for retirement, Jones said she simply felt the time was right to move on. She doesn't know what she'll do next, apart from taking some time to organize a few rooms in her home.
But she does know the first thing she'll do as a new retiree.
"Take a nap," Jones said.
They've upgraded technology, brought in new equipment, moved from a card catalog to a fourth-generation computer system and made numerous improvements, but, until Friday, at least one thing always stayed the same.
Employee Kathy Jones retired from the library Friday after working there for just a hair more than four decades — she worked an extra three days — fitting of a long career neatly filing and organizing books.
"I like things orderly and neat," Jones said. "Orderly would be 40 years on the dot."
Officials believe that nobody has worked at the library as long as Jones.
"For us, this is probably the longest we've ever had," said Bill Cochran, the library's director. "It's pretty unusual for a city employee."
Jones started at the Billings library as a page on Jan. 25, 1971, while in her early 20s after working at the Rocky Mountain College library. Over the past four decades, she has worn many hats, working as a bookmobile clerk, a reader's adviser for adult fiction, at the circulation desk and, for the past 10 years, as a reference librarian.
She said she'll miss the patrons and her coworkers, many of whom also have several decades of library service.
"But I won't miss the books," Jones said with a grin, "because I'll be here on a regular basis. I'm a patron now."
Cochran and Gene Robson, a 38-year library employee, said Jones' straight talk, little customs and inside jokes will be missed.
Every New Year's Eve, staff gathered after the library closed at the top of a circular staircase and tossed the old year's calendar down to the floor, Robson said.
"There's lots of stories and little traditions that have grown," she said.
Friday afternoon, several dozen people gathered on the library's third floor to send Jones off. Apart from the requisite cake, cookies and coffee, tables featured photos of Jones along with a few inside jokes, including a vase of flowers that has been at the library for more than 10 years.
Normally, when a longtime employee leaves the library, the staff puts together a photo album of their time there. But in Jones' case, something happened that, once again, the library has never seen.
"For her, we had to make two," Cochran said.
Forty years is a long time at just about any job, something Jones is the first to admit. Robson said Jones' love of reading, a strong knowledge of fiction and an irreverent sense of humor may have played a role, but Jones said it was something else.
"It just happened one day at a time," she said. "And now it's 40 years later."
As for retirement, Jones said she simply felt the time was right to move on. She doesn't know what she'll do next, apart from taking some time to organize a few rooms in her home.
But she does know the first thing she'll do as a new retiree.
"Take a nap," Jones said.
