Sewickley Public Library to host open house for retiring executive director

Sewickley Public Library executive director Carolyn Toth is retiring after 25 years of service.

The library at 500 Thorn St. will host an open house in her honor from 4-6 p.m. April 27.

Patrons and community members can deliver their best wishes to Toth in the Colbert Room. Light refreshments will be served.

In lieu of gifts, Toth has requested donations be made to the library’s endowment fund to benefit the library and the staff in perpetuity.

“Everything that was accomplished here during my time as director did not happen by my efforts alone,” Toth said via a news release. “There was always a team, always a committee who worked together to make great things happen.”

The Bethel Park native worked as a library assistant at Winchester Thurston School for three years and served as Community Library of Castle Shannon director for nine years before joining Sewickley as its top administrator in September 1998.

At that time, officials had just broken grown for a major expansion.

Under her direction, the library completed the project expanding from 8,800 square feet to 23,800 square feet. The expansion added a second floor with a children’s department, meeting rooms and space for growth. That growth came in the way of larger collections, an expanded staff, and space for programming for all ages.

The library on average serves 231,000 people a year, most from the Quaker Valley area. It is supported, in part, through taxes collected by the Quaker Valley School District.

Sewickley council president Cynthia Mullins recalled the library being a benefit when she and her husband, Michael, were looking for a new place to live a little more than two decades ago. Mullin’s praised Toth’s leadership skills and was grateful for all her contributions.

“When we moved to Sewickley 21 years ago, we were thrilled to have a library within walking distance,” Mullins said. “We met Carolyn almost immediately. As a forward-looking creative leader, she has been an asset to the community. She has shepherded the library through many changes, always adapting, always moving forward. How lucky Sewickley is to have had Carolyn Toth at the helm of the library all these years. I hope Carolyn and her family enjoy what comes next.”

A search for Toth’s replacement is underway, and she is expected to stick around for awhile to help with the transition. Her last day has not been scheduled.

The Canton, Ohio-based firm Bradbury Miller Associates is handling the director search. They specialize in hiring executive-level library leadership, according to its website.

Sewickley library board president Joel Swanson believes the next executive director has big shoes to fill.

“If the library is at the heart of our town, Carolyn has been the heart of our library,” Swanson said. “She started as director during a capital campaign for the library’s expansion and renovation, and has seen the library through a transition from the printed page to a multimedia resource center that was nearly unimaginable a quarter century ago. I will deeply miss seeing her every day but I am 100% confident that she has prepared the Sewickley Public Library for another quarter century of success.”