42 / matters magazine / fall 2026 S ometimes words aren’t necessary to convey what someone means to you and your community. “I had a young kid yesterday who put his arms around me and just sobbed,” Jane Folger, head of children’s services at the Maple wood Memorial Library, said in late August, just days before retiring. “I mean, it was wordless. But boy, I’ll tell you.” There were a lot of tears shed at the library this spring and summer as five longtime employ ees called it a career, taking with them 106 years’ worth of institutional knowledge and thousands of memories. What remains is each employee’s indelible imprint on the community, their for mer colleagues and the striking new building that stands as a reflection of their collective expertise and vision. The retirees include Folger (29.5-year tenure); Robyn Whalen, senior information specialist (24); Joanne Beckerich, program and publicity coordi nator (20.5); Cindy Mondino, senior library assis tant (19); and Robert Nealon, head of technology (13). They could have left much earlier but en dured through what library Director Sarah Lester says was “a period of incredible change.” “First it was the pandemic, and then we closed the main library and had interim services on Boy den Avenue,” Lester says. “It was just this interest ing but really hard time, and all these people want ed to stick through it and be a part of re-opening.” Maplewood Memorial Library completed its $24 million renovation in July 2025. With a cli mate-resilient design, including solar panels that offset 58 percent of its annual energy use, the all- electric building is the first public library in New Jersey to earn Leadership in Energy and Environ mental Design Gold certification. Visitors to the expansive, light-filled new li brary may see organizations or individuals using its 10 high-tech private meeting rooms; students printing documents in the self-service business center; a discussion with a noted creative (such as screenwriter and The New Yorker cartoonist Bruce Eric Kaplan) in the large multimedia-capable Community Room, which holds up to 200 peo ple; or toddlers enjoying a snack or book time on the new veranda and patio that look upon Maple wood Memorial Park. There’s also a makerspace with 3D printers and a local history room. “People are using the building in a way that they never did before,” says Whalen, the now-retired in formation specialist, pointing to the new study areas that have drawn in younger adults. “We always had kids. We al ways had older people, but the 20-somethings just really weren’t com ing into the li brary, and now they do.” The cur rent build ing opened in 1955, but the library itself is Retired Librarians Check Out with a Century’s Worth of Impact Maplewood Memorial Library gets a different kind of facelift BY MASON LEVINSON Maplewood Library staff on Robyn Whalen and Joanne Beckerich's last day. Jane Folger, head of children's services retired after 29.5 years.
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