After more than 25 years of working at the Farmville-Prince Edward Community Library, Peggy Epperson has turned the page to a new chapter of life: retirement.

Epperson, hired in Jan- uary 1991 as the library’s director, became regional library director in 1996.

“I was literally right out of school,” she said in a re- cent interview while sitting in the expanded library
on West Third Street. “My husband got a job at Long- wood. I didn’t know a thing about Farmville. I had to look it up on a map.”

When the libraries in Buckingham and Farmville merged into a regional library system, Epperson was named assistant director of the regional library.

“Rural libraries have a special  problem in that they serve too small a population to really have a fully functioning system on their own,” Epperson said. “By consolidating the two counties, there was a lot of savings available in terms of staffing, and you also get into a different level of funding from the state library.”

One of the most re- warding aspects of the job, Epperson said, “was to streamline the library from a place which had largely leisure reading to a full-service information service for the community.”

Since the library moved from its former, cramped space downtown to a spacious facility near Wilck’s Lake, the number of patrons has tripled, she said.

“Now, we have about 10,000 people a month who come into this library building,” Epperson said.

A larger library meant more programming, including computer training. Epperson called the building “a big change.”

She said she “absolutely” has enjoyed her time working at the library.

“I’ve got a quote on my desktop on my computer from Muhammad Ali, and the quote is, ‘Service to others is the rent we pay for our space on earth,’” Epperson said. “It’s a service we provide to the community.”

Epperson wanted to be a librarian since she was 12 years old.

“I couldn’t imagine any other career,” she said.

She worked at Dakota Wesleyan University’s library as a reference librarian before coming to Farmville.

Regional Library Board Chair Linda Venable
Paige said Epperson was the driving force behind much of the growth and expansion of the Farmville branch’s services.

“She saw the transition (to the) state-of-the-art building that they have now,” Paige said. “She was there for all of that.”

Epperson’s leadership was a big factor in the success of the library, Paige said.

“She’ll be missed,” she added.

Epperson said one of the biggest joys of the job was working with her staff.

She also had a message for local officials.

“I would like the Buck- ingham County Board of Supervisors to be a little more future-minded, to start thinking, what is our community going

to be like in five years?” she said of whether the county should expand its library. “We have to build a new library. If we had, for example, plenty of high- speed connectivity and enough computer terminals for everybody, a lot of people could do online businesses.”

Because of the internet, she said, “your physical location is not as vital as it used to be.”

Since Epperson came to Farmville in 1991, librar- ies have totally changed, mainly through offering digital reference materials.

Epperson’s last day was Sept. 19.

The Regional Library Board will use a consul- tant from the state library to help with the search for her successor, she said, predicting it will take about three months.

The library’s policy calls for the branch librarian — Ruth Stubbs — to act as director until the board takes other action.

“It’s just time for me to go,” Epperson said of her retirement. “I have a number of other interests that I want to pursue that I’ve put aside for many years.”