When Kaye Grabbe was originally offered a librarian job at the Lake Forest Library, she considered it to be short term.
“I had no intention of staying because I wanted to work for a [school] district library, not a municipal library,” Grabbe said.
She started work March 14, 1988. Now, 28 years later, Grabbe is retiring as head of the library at the end of April.
Grabbe grew up on the northwest side of Chicago. Her mother was a nurse and her father an attorney.
“My father always thought teaching was a valuable occupation,” Grabbe said. “We were all expected to go to college.”
She attended Rosary College – now Dominican University in River Forest – where she earned a degree in English. She married and moved with her husband to Virginia where he was stationed at Joint Base Langley-Eustis. She worked as a substitute teacher in the local high school.
One day she saw an advertisement for a librarian job at a community college.
“I applied for it even though I didn’t have a master’s in library science,” Grabbe said. “For some reason they gave me an interview. I must have hit the director on a slow day because instead of saying ‘I’m sorry, we can’t use you,’ he explained why I needed a master’s in library science.”
Grabbe moved back in with her parents – her husband was serving as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam – and earned a master’s degree in library science at Dominican University. She worked in libraries in the St Louis and Detroit areas before returning to Chicago in 1987.
Although Grabbe first thought of the Lake Forest Library as a temporary job, she soon changed her mind.
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“After a couple years, I realized people were passionate about the library,” Grabbe said. “I have never experienced that before. At previous jobs I used to spend 40 percent of my time marketing library services to get 50 to 60 percent of people to use the library.”
About 80 percent of Lake Forest residents have a library card, Grabbe said.
“She’s always out in the community,” said Kate Burkardt, adult services librarian who has worked with Grabbe on and off since the 1980s. “Rotary, chamber of commerce meetings. She’s always available to the public and is always approachable.”
Over her years in Lake Forest, one of Grabbe’s major tasks has being overseeing maintenance and improvements to the library, which was built in 1929.
Another task has been overseeing the increase in electronic resources. The library began offering internet access in 1995. A media lab was added in 2014.
“She’s worked really hard to bring it up to the modern era,” Burkardt said
“We always have to be ready to provide the service [patrons] want,” Grabbe said. “The challenge has been to keep up with their needs.”
Grabbe is currently working with Catherine Lemmer, who was recently appointed to succeed her as library director.
Lemmer most recently worked as assistant director of information services at the Indiana University of Law, according to a press release from Lake Forest Library Trustees.
The library will hold an open house from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 30 for those who would like to say farewell to Grabbe. For more information, call 847-234-0636.
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