Washington library Director Bryna Walker checking out

WASHINGTON — Washington Public Library Director Bryna Walker announced her resignation Wednesday, saying she had accepted a position at Clear Lake.

“It’s a same size library, and I’m from that area,” Walker said. “The opportunity arose, and up there it’s pretty remote, so people don’t leave positions very often, especially with this size library, and I wanted to stay with this size.”

Census data from 2019 puts Clear Lake at population of 7,597, just ahead of Washington’s 7,313. Walker said communities in that range had “Size E” libraries, her preferred work environment.

“For librarians that are in Size E like this, you’re able to do a lot more,” she said. “I’m able to go and check out books. I’m able to go and do things in the community more, whereas it’s more of a business position in an office all day if you’re in a bigger library.”

Walker said she started her career in education before moving to public library work, which brought her to Washington three years ago.

“Being a school librarian and a public librarian are two different fields,” she said. “I don’t have just an M.A. in school librarianship, I have an MLAS, which is American Library Association-accredited. For this size library, you need to have somebody with those credentials.”

Walker said she was proud of the impact she has had on Washington, and that her handling of COVID-19 was her proudest achievement.

“I was pretty consistent throughout COVID,” she said. “We shut down one time in November, I think. There were libraries that opened their doors and then closed them, so it was really kind of sporadic. But we consistently had curbside the whole time … it was consistent, and I didn’t use a rubric or anything to determine when we went from green to yellow to red, I just talked to public health and other directors and things like that to make those decisions.”

The position will be open for applications for three weeks after its July 2 posting date. After that, the library board will hold a special meeting to discuss candidates before starting the interview process. Walker said current assistant librarian LeAnn Kunz would serve as interim director for any time between her Aug. 6 departure and the final decision for a replacement.