Northfield’s Hiers leaves position after 10 years
NORTHFIELD — The Otto Bruyns Public Library of Northfield is looking for a new director after Aubrey Hiers left her position April 17 after 10 years.
Her departure followed the resignation of board of trustees treasurer Melanie Brozosky in March, when it was decided that the new vacancy for the position of senior library assistant would not be filled, Hiers said.
She alleges that dysfunction among the board has resulted in unhappiness among the staff.
“After the tone of the meeting in March, I finally made the decision to resign. It has been heart-wrenching,” Hiers stated April 17 via email. “Another library assistant resigned last week.”
Hiers said there are five part-time assistants maintaining operation of the library, with another who was set to leave May 1.
Library board of trustees president Jennifer Hale stated in an email that the board is currently conducting interviews for the director position.
“The board is working diligently to fill the role as soon possible. Our staff has been absolutely amazing during this transition and we are so grateful for them,” she stated via email.
Hale stated that the board of trustees is down just one person and the majority of the current members have been active since 2020-2021.
“We have an incredible team that we have recently added to. We are excited about the future of the library and its staff,” she said. “Aubrey resigned from her position as library director. We wish her well in all her future endeavors.”
Hiers said she is excited to start a new chapter in her career.
“After nearly 10 years working for the Otto Bruyns Public Library, I have decided to resign my position as library director. This was a difficult professional decision to make. Though I will miss the Northfield community dearly … I am honored to be entering a positive working environment with other professional librarians dedicated to public service.”
Hiers took over the position in September 2013. Since that time she has helped secure more than a dozen grants, established a young adult collection and regular programming with the Stockton Center on Successful Aging and the Jewish Community Center, as well as re-established involvement in community events such as the Independence Day Parade, National Night Out, Trunk-or-Treat and Easter Egg Hunt.
Hiers also continued and expanded coordination with Northfield Community School, hosting a third-grade visit and eighth-grade poetry slam.
The library has provided programming such as Lego Club and Maker Space, writing groups, trivia nights and dance parties, as well as story times, paint parties, book clubs and computer classes.
Hiers also coordinated special events such as the “Around the World at the Library” with Sharae Maysonnett, which brought dozens of families together to share their cultural heritage, and the solar eclipse watch party that brought hundreds of people to the parking lot.
She recently coordinated the re-flooring of the library that included a major shift to allow the young adult collection its own space apart from the children’s collection.
“I would like to thank the Northfield community for entrusting me to serve in such an integral role within the neighborhood for all of these years,” Hiers said.
Hale said summer programming is continuing as scheduled.
“We are excited about our summer reading programs for all ages, which will begin in June,” she said. “We have a magic show event on June 24 at Birch Grove Park.”
City Council was considering joining the Atlantic County Library System in 2021 to try to save money on operations and facilities costs.
At the time, Hiers, Mayor Erland Chau and former councilwoman Barbara Madden, who was liaison to the library, met with County Administrator Gerald DelRosso to find out what benefits the city could realize from joining the county system.
Hiers was against the idea, saying she had worked at numerous independent libraries and feels they better serve their communities.
At the time she said independent libraries receive all of the host city’s library tax for use in programming. She said the county pays about half of that to each branch.
Hiers said through providing programming, independent libraries can individualize services that benefit the community instantly. She said she did not believe the city would find the benefits outweigh the loss of personalized service.
In 2021, Chau said one of the benefits of joining the county would be shifting the responsibility for maintenance out of the city’s hands.
Chau said in the past the feasibility of maintaining an independent library was to the city’s advantage “but things have changed and we have to re-evaluate.”
The governing body did not pursue the merger, which would have required passage of a public referendum.