BLOOMINGTON – On March 23, the Monroe County Public Library Board of Trustees confirmed the appointment of Grier Carson as director of the library, effective May 6. Carson follows director Marilyn Wood, who will retire after ten years of accomplishments at the library.
At the top of Wood’s list of achievements is the planning and construction of the forthcoming Southwest Branch Library. She has led every step of the planning process from gathering initial community input to site acquisition and the building’s design.
The branch is scheduled to open in early 2023. Although she’s sad that she won’t be present in an official capacity when the branch opens, Wood said “Planning for a new branch is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and that’s a legacy I’m really privileged to be a part of.”
Carson began his path to librarianship in Bloomington. As an undergraduate at Indiana University, he studied English literature and art history and received his Master of Library Science degree in 2006. Carson’s career led him to Lake Forest Academy, a boarding school in Illinois where he worked his way from librarian to director of libraries and academic technology.
Carson moved back to Bloomington in 2013 when he became the director of Putnam County Public Library, overseeing important renovations and expansions and increasing outreach efforts. In 2018, seeking library work closer to home, Carson became access and content manager at MCPL, and in 2020, he became associate director, working alongside Wood to navigate the Library through the pandemic and plan for the future.
Learn more about Carson’s future opportunities for the library by watching his presentation to the Monroe County Public Library Board of Trustees on Community Access Television Services.
