A Message from the New County Librarian

Feb. 1, 2012

            Welcome to the Riverside County Library System website. My name is Barbara Morrow Williams, and I am the new County Librarian.  Each month, I will describe here in a brief web article the important work your County public libraries are doing in your communities—and I want to hear from you, too—we value and need your insight and feedback.  

Among the first critical activities that I am doing in collaboration with the excellent managers and librarians at LSSI is to reach out to as many members of the many Friends and Advisory group organizations as possible in communities throughout the County.  These important people from your individual communities will help us to listen and learn about what your communities need and expect from library service, and they also provide critical support to help meet those needs and expectations. 

  For this first brief article, I want to introduce myself to you and tell you why I am passionate about public libraries and the important service they provide in your communities. My focus as County Librarian will be a continuation of my career –long interests in social capital—those relationships that build trust, mutual aid and self- confidence in a community—and how communities develop stocks of social capital.   A few years ago, I earned a PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis with a focus on Policy and Law from the University of Missouri at Columbia (where I also studied organizational change and conflict resolution).  My studies reaffirmed my interests in communities –how they educate their children, how they interact with their neighbors and civic institutions, and how they do business.   

My passion for public service comes from each of my parents who were small business owners and very active in civic and social life in Stockton.  My passion for education and literacy comes from my mother who always took me to libraries and museums and from my father who believed that women should be educated and active contributors to civic life.   I am also a native Californian with over 25 years’ experience in libraries, museums and arts organizations.  I am a graduate of Mills College where I received a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature.  I earned a Master’s in Library Science from the University of California at Berkeley, and a Law degree from Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon.

 Like many of you, family and education are very important to me.   I am married to a community college administrator, Dr. Paul Williams and we have three children, Portia, Cynthia, and Bartholomew. Two of our children are specialist librarians and one is a vice president of communications for an international consulting firm. 

The challenge we all face for the 21^st Century is the swiftly moving changes in how libraries and local institutions like schools can work together with their communities to help families and individuals to survive and to thrive.  To participate fully in civic life, communities develop and sustain stocks of social capital. For example, they must be literate—they must master many types of languages to earn a living, to protect their health and financial welfare, and to simply interact actively and productively in the civic responsibilities of the broader community. With your regular support, the Riverside County Library System can help communities to sustain and build on their stocks of social capital.    

I look forward to meeting and listening to you and your community.

Barbara Morrow Williams
County Librarian