BEDFORD – The Bedford Public Library is moving forward with the announced retirement of Susan Miller from the Library Director role on October 1st after 40 years in the role.
Beloved by many throughout the community, Susan was able to connect with everyone who came through the doors and leave them with a positive impression. According to the new Director Nathan Watson, this was nothing new.
“Her insight to the community is like no other. She has that 40 years of institutional knowledge from her role, but she genuinely cared about the community and it’s members,” said Watson. “Having her one door away was a blessing in disguise, as it was able to help me get to understand the community better.”
Starting with the Bedford Library in June of 2016, and holding many roles in that time before being placed as the Director, Watson learned early how positive the library truly is.
“Susan took me under her wing and showed me how positive the library is to community members. Just having the ability to see how she was able to easily talk with everyone who came by and seeing their reactions was amazing,” Watson said.
Watson worked hand in hand with Susan for the last three years before her retirement in an administrative role, where he said she was willing to work with him and show him the “ropes” on how to be the best director he can be.
“She was a great mentor. The kind of person who was and continues to be a great leader by teaching me the importance of being innovative and listening to the community and their wants,” said Watson. “But most importantly, she taught me to be bold and to make bold decisions.”
Watson reminisced about the last few days with Susan where she was able to put her trust into him to make the right decisions.
“When we knew Susan was ready to retire, she would allow me to take the lead on some of the projects and on the strategic plans for the library,” Watson said. “She worked with me for a while in order to show me a more in-depth aspect on administration as a whole.”
Watson was most recently the Director of Operations for the Bedford Library, working his way up from Customer Engagement before being promoted to management roles such as the community learning coordinator and special project coordinator, before being hired as the Library Director.
