FISH HOEK LIBRARY

Civic Centre Central Circle FISH HOEK

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SUSAN ALEXANDER

The very best of good news is that Susan Alexander, our Deputy Librarian since 1995 and acting-in-charge from 2001 – 2005, has been appointed Senior Librarian in charge of Masiphumelele Library with effect from 1 February 2012. It is the library that she established and developed as a satellite service point and the City of Cape Town’s Library Service has recognised its value and its growth, upgrading its status from satellite to independent Community Library.

We are very proud of Susan and all she has accomplished. Our sincere good wishes accompany her. We are also happy in the knowledge that the ties between Fish Hoek and Masiphumelele Libraries will always remain strong and close.

AZETTA VAN NIEKERK

Azetta joined the library team in May 1991. She is an expert cataloguer with excellent book knowledge. The City’s staffing policy enforces retirement age limits, and the library will be hard pressed to cope with its cataloguing functions when Azetta retires at end May 2012. No doubt her garden and grandchildren will be benefiting from all the extra days of loving attention.

JAN COOMBE

Jan is currently the library’s longest serving staff member, having become a staff member in July 1988. She has succumbed to the lures of a retired husband, an empty nest and family abroad and decided to make a bid for freedom and a life of leisure and travel. By the end of June 2012 when she plans to leave, she will have served her community as librarian for 24 years. The junior library, its staff and activities have been her domain and show clearly how her guidance has kept it such a popular destination. For the library she has been the ‘financial director’ and a mainstay of the annual “Library Alive!” fundraising fair.

LYN STEYN

Lyn succeeded Ethelmay Gillard in 1990 and will have been in office for twenty-two years in November 2012 when the retirement bug strikes. A five-year absence as Acting Library Manager for the former South Peninsula Administration from 2001 to 2005 passed in the blink of an eye. Organisational restructuring has seen the passing of the Fish Hoek Municipality, SPA itself and the advent of the metropolitan City of Cape Town. With those transitions, the “Fish Hoek Librarian” changed to the “Librarian-in-Charge” and now “Principal Librarian”. Each change of local government structure brought a more impressive title but dissipated the actual scope of authority. From being Fish Hoek’s only Librarian, she is now one of 103 librarians, managed by six district managers, a director, and a management team of support staff, all of whom are part of a larger directorate of Community Services.

The staff are confident that the appointment of Fish Hoek’s third Librarian (whatever the title) will be a breath of fresh air akin to our beloved Southeaster, and that s/he will expertly steer our library through enchanting literary worlds to come.

We all pay tribute to the best mentor, Ethelmay Gillard, whose influence  steered us gently but firmly to maintain the standards she set – with a ready ear and shoulder, and plenty of room to grow an own style.