The Man Behind the Melrose Library: Dennis Kelley Retires After Three Decades

You may already have heard about a certain wedding taking place later this week. Yet there is another rather princely man also having a big day this Friday, and he's a local.

Dennis Kelley, the director of , is retiring Friday, after 32 years of service. While the paparazzi will be slightly more limited for this event, the accolades are pouring in just as loudly.

An unplanned path to the directorship

Kelley's path to library directorship was a tad more predestined that he once thought. A Somerville native and the son of a longtime director of Somerville's libraries, Kelley pursued marketing in college, receiving an MBA soon after. But following tumultuous times in the corporate world, Kelley realized he wasn't where he wanted to be. He and his wife moved to Pennsylvania so that Kelley could complete the library science program at the University of Pittsburgh, an accomplishment that has served him well.

According to Kelley, the MBA and library science degrees turned out to be a "good combination" for a library director, a role into which he stepped first at Massachusetts Bay Community College and then at the Dartmouth Public Library. Kelley accepted the position of Library Director at Melrose Public Library in 1979.

It is not lost on Kelley that his eventual decision to become a library director mimicked his father's career decision.

"I never thought I'd follow in his footsteps!" Kelley laughed, looking around his comfortable office at the Melrose Public Library, photos of his two sons and his one grandchild (soon to be joined by a sibling) decorating the wall behind him.

Funding successes, challenges of directorship

One group among many who are thrilled that Kelley chose the career he did―and with the two degrees he has―is the Trustees of the Melrose Public Library.

"Dennis is very canny. He's superb about money," library trustee Mary Edwards said. "He knows how to get the most out of a dollar."

It's this shrewdness, mixed with an innate love of what a library is and should be, that has helped Kelley weather and survive the challenges of leadership.

"Money is always a challenge for us. I have to be our advocate, make sure we're getting our fair share of resources," Kelley said. "People love the library, but we have to have money to run it the way it needs to be run."

In Kelley's early days as director, laying hands on these necessary funds sometimes came at the expense of popularity. Kelley recalls making the decision to close what used to be the second branch of the Melrose library, located on Franklin Street.

"That was not a popular thing to do," Kelley remembered, explaining that pressure from city officials and the second branch's one-mile proximity to the main branch were both factors in the decision.

Yet in years since, Kelley's other financial decisions have led to as consistent and generous a budget as possible.

"Dennis is very careful. I don't think anybody would accuse him of spending freely. We talk a lot about the spending we are doing," Edwards said. "I think it's a fact that the city has not had to fund things at the library that libraries in other municipalities would have to pay for."

Ed Waystack, the chair of the Trustees, agrees, remembering how Kelley kept the library afloat and in compliance, even in the toughest economic times.

"We hit the rough wave during the economic setback [several years ago]. State grants were reduced, the city was struggling. Dennis deserves a lot of credit. Even with cuts, we never lost accredition with the state library commission. We always managed to stay open the minimum number of hours," Waystack recalled.

The financial situation is better these days, and as Kelley himself says, a well-funded library pays for itself.

"It's the best bang for your tax dollar," Kelly said, smiling. "Everything we have here is free. All we ask is that you bring it back."

The value of happy staff

Maybe it's the fact that people do bring back materials that makes for such happy librarians, a state of affairs often remarked upon by library patrons. Or maybe it's more than that.

"Dennis always has placed a high importance on hiring new people who not only are qualified, but are also a 'good fit' with the existing staff.  When people respect and enjoy each other at work, I think it shows in how they relate to everyone," Assistant Director Linda Walsh said.

"Dennis has hired a staff that really approaches everything with a team feel, and a community-oriented approach. One of the first things I was told upon joining the staff 10 years ago was that Dennis wanted the library to be seen as a vital community gathering point, not just a repository for books," Walsh continued.  "Dennis places a high priority on both hiring the right people, and keeping them.  He has worked very hard during difficult economic times to preserve as many staff as possible, resulting in a very high full-time retention rate."

Joan Lounsbury, the library's secretary and bookkeeper for the past 15 years and a library staffer for 19 years, agrees.

"What I really enjoy about working as a team with Dennis is the way he looks at the big picture," Lounsbury said.

Waystack concurs.

"I'm particularly impressed with the way Dennis assembles the staff, they way he deals with the staff. It's a great atmosphere. We get letters, Dennis gets letters, from patrons telling us how well serviced they are at the library," the chair of the Trustees said. "It's a tribute to Dennis, in my judgment. He leads by example. He never asks staff to do something he wouldn't do. He just loves his job, loves the library."

Kelley acknowledges that his focus on staff has been about quality and attitude from the very beginning. Intent on hiring people with professional degrees and dedicated to offering a fair pay structure that would ensure high retention, Kelley has ended up with a staff that is lower in quantity than when he started but higher in terms of educational experience. He has also ended up with a very friendly staff.

"We put a lot of emphasis on that―friendliness. At other libraries, there isn’t always a lot of 'Hi! How are you?' It's strictly business," Kelley said.

Changes in children's programming

One place it's definitely not all business at the Melrose Public Library is downstairs in the children's department.

"My feeling is that if you capture kids when they're young, and you get them excited about coming to the library, it'll carry through," Kelley said, highlighting the importance of promoting programming for young adults, for whom the appeal of a library might otherwise fade during their teenage years.

"For a lot of kids here, it's cool to come to the library," Kelley said.

Since Kelley took over the library's directorship, the children's room has extended its hours, including on weekends, a change that is a boon to many activity-hungry parents.

"When I was first hired, the children's room closed at 5 every night.  After realizing that many families could not make it into the library in that time frame, Dennis was able to advocate for additional money in the budget to allow the children's room to be open more hours," Children's Librarian Marianne Stanton said. "We are now open until 8 p.m., Monday through Thursday nights."

The extended hours are just one example of changes targeting the library's smallest patrons, Stanton explained.

"Dennis has always been supportive of children's programming, and for that matter, he has been very supportive of really everything that has to do with the children's room, including money spent on children's materials and improving the physical space of the children's room.  I am very fortunate that he has trusted me enough to try different types of programs," Stanton said.

"I think that it is very fitting for the trustees to establish a trust fund in his honor and to earmark the funds to go to children's programming," Stanton said. (See below for more information on the newly established Dennis J. Kelley Trust Fund.)

Focus on technology, aesthetics

Improvements to children's programming are far from alone on a list of Kelley's accomplishments while library director. During his tenure at the library, Kelley has helped bring the library into the 21st century, years before the 21st century actually began.

Kelley supervised the installation of the library's original computerized circulation system, led the effort to give the MPL an online presence and expanded both public access to the library's databases and the number of computers available for patron use.

"Dennis has been a huge supporter of technology. The children's room has six computers for children only. Just recently he was able to purchase a smartboard (interactive white board) for the library that has been a wonderful asset when school groups visit and has also been a wonderful asset to all of our book discussion groups," Stanton said.

Under Kelley, the library has also undergone dramatic aesthetic changes, from the upgraded and careful landscaping (including the famed bronze statue of a child reading, outside the front door) to more subtle interior improvements, including cozy sitting areas and stained-glass windows.

"Our library is so much prettier and inspiring thanks to Dennis' efforts to beautify the grounds. He worked on getting a landscape designer and an irrigation system installed. He hired Darcy Paige to take care of the gardens so they would be beautiful for years to come. He worked with the Friends of MPL to hire and commission the statue out front, and with the Rocha family to have a bench and sitting area with fabulous flowers around it in memory of their son Ray, who was lost on 9/11," Lounsbury said. "He has worked with so many donors over the years to make MPL a much loved part of our community."

It's exactly that community connection that Kelley says he has always strived toward.

"The library is a kind of social outlet for a lot of people. That brings them here," Kelley said, explaining that the library is a constant, reliable resource, even when the cost of other forms of entertainment has become prohibitive.

"In tough times, libraries really thrive," he said. "We are right up there [in the North of Boston Library Exchange] in the top three in terms of circulation."

"People just enjoy coming here. I hear that over and over," Kelley said happily.

Retirement plans

What's in store after retirement? A lot of the time at Kelley's house at the Cape, or so the plan goes now. Kelley and his wife, a fellow recent retiree, also plan to travel abroad. And at least one part of their itineraries should be obvious.

"I would love to check out some international libraries," Kelley said with a smile.

In the meantime, one thing is certain: Kelley will be sorely missed.

"The Melrose Public Library is really the essence of Melrose.  The library is always busy, alive, full of people young and old, from all walks of life ... it's what community is all about. You don't see that in every library," Stanton said. "Dennis' vision for the past 32 years of what a library should be is the reason why the Melrose Public Library is the heart of this community."

Kelley promises that visits to his old stomping grounds will also be in order. (He has also offered to help as the library transitions to a new director, the search for whom has started. The application deadline is in early May.) Although he demurs when asked about the Dennis J. Kelley Trust Fund, recently set up by the Trustees of the Melrose Public Library in his honor, he is thrilled that the fund will support the children's programming he has held dear for so long.

"It would be great fun to bring my grandchildren to a Dennis Kelley Trust-funded program," Kelley laughed.

The public is invited to attend an this Sunday, May 1, from 2-4:30 p.m. at the Melrose Public Library.

Contributions in Kelley's honor can be sent to the Dennis J. Kelley Trust Fund, Melrose Public Library, 69 West Emerson St., Melrose, MA 02176. Please make out checks to the Trustees of Melrose Public Library.