Friends gather to remember their library director Jackie Icenhower

Four library friends sat down recently to remember a leader and a director. Atlanta Library Director Jackie Icenhower died unexpectedly Dec. 21 at age 57.

Because of the COVID virus, memorial gatherings have been limited. But the four friends and others, knowing how much the library had benefited from Icenhower’s 15 years of leadership, wanted to share their appreciation with the public.

“Jackie was magical at getting grants,” began Evan Evans, “She would just find the money for programs needed,”

“She knew everything, from the new technology to the old systems,” said Charles Steger. “I was always impressed when going to her for help, and I’ve been at this for 50 years.”

“She’d drop everything she was doing to help whoever came to the library,” Tammie Davidson said. “That was her leadership. We were to be the people’s employees. That was No. 1.”

“She would have so many programs going for the library to serve others,” said Charlotte Evans. “She dealt well with officials and knew so many people in the library world. But, really, the important thing about coming to the library was that Jackie would be here. Her being here was the key.”

Icenhower came to the library in 2006, She had been a school teacher and would continue her studies by earning a master’s degree in library science. Under her special direction, the library would become, like a school, a place of activity for everyone and a center for learning.

One of her first accomplishments was to do a major, first-time inventory that permitted accurate knowledge of the library resources to meet the basic and even sophisticated needs of the public.

And in a second major achievement, Icenhower worked with a local artist to transform the library’s basement into an undersea marine world for children. The resulting artistic environment so startled adults and pleased children that it won the 2006 Library Project of the Year honor from the Northeast Texas Library Association.

Such changes through the years for children and adults would culminate in the library’s 2017 acceptance into the national Family Place Libraries designation, an achievement only 68 other libraries in Texas had earned. The award was presented in an official ceremony to library and city officials by a representative of the FPL from New York.

Another major accomplishment was a major face-lift to the building. Icenhower had turned up an old carpet to find stylish ceramic tiles underneath and thus began an in-house restoration project for the interior and exterior resulting in a more modern, pleasant, and well-lighted facility. By then, some 1,100 people a week would be counted coming through the library’s doors. One reason for the attendance would be the library’s powerful impact of assisting all people with forms to fill out, job applications or other personal items.

“One of Jackie’s strong points was that she had us employees and volunteers so understanding of the library and our roles that we could help the public without oversight from her,” said one employee.

Icenhower inspired library events. Here are a few examples:

> The summer’s reading program for youth was e a well-organized and entertaining series of events taking place over several months.

> In recent summers, the library began serving food at the noon hour, courtesy of the East Texas Bank in Tyler, which would deliver the food by truck.

> The library would teach computer skills, particularly for seniors.

> The library obtained the region’s first 3-D printer with a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, “Not just doodling, but marketable skills,” Icenhower said of the skills which could be learned.

> Once someone suggested a chocolate party which then turned into a reception for three authors and their books as well.

> The library jumped into a seed distribution program in which patrons learned about gardening and then had the seeds to grow flowers or food.

> Moreover, the library joined in with the Texas Commission on the Arts to present Adler & Hearn songwriters in a free public concert of Texas folk, jazz, and blues.

These arc only examples of the range of activities under Icenhower’s encouragement. One among these, the Nimble Thimble Quilters Club, merits further explanation, Icenhower, a quilter herself, was one of the first to join.

For one special event, the quilters held a bazaar for which they created 400 items, earning $1,000 in sales to buy a book binding machine that could restore damaged books to “better than new.”

Always active, Icenhower and her staff were looking forward to a professional needs survey which would chart a way for the library’s future.

“She’d found a way to put back the money for that survey,” Davidson said.

With her openness to new things and learning, Icenhower set a high example for staff, patrons and all who knew her, the group of four said.

“She never failed,” Evans said when asked if projects had ever gone wrong.

“I didn’t even get to mention that Jackie was a master genealogist, and she would help so many whenever asked,” Charles Steger, local historian, and researcher, said,

“She just could do anything. She set an example for the Atlanta Public, Library. And we wanted the public to know,” Steger said.