ROCHELLE — Connie Avery was raised as a reader. 

Growing up, everyone in her family was an avid reader. That’s why she’s been passionate about working in libraries for the past 47 years. On Dec. 31, the youth services/assistant director at the Flagg-Rochelle Public Library, affectionately known by kids as “Miss Connie,” will retire after 25 years in Rochelle. 

“That's something to pass on to people, that love of reading,” Avery said. “Because once you have that, it opens up so much for everybody. You're wanting people to see that it's not a chore. That's one thing that I've been working towards, to get families to do that and develop that love of reading."

Before coming to Rochelle, Avery worked at a small library as director and was ready for a change. She happened to see an ad in some library materials that the children’s position was open at Flagg-Rochelle. She had never done children’s services by itself before and thought it was a chance to try something different. She came and interviewed and the rest was history.

Avery has been witness to a lot of change at the library as technology developed. She recalls checking out books the old way with cards in pockets. There were only three computers in the building when she started. 

She remembers when the library was “the only show in town” when it came to activities and when summertimes were busier. The changes in technology made the ways she interacted with kids evolve. 

“It's totally different,” Avery said. “They're used to having a screen right in front of them and entertainment like that. When I've done story times and things, their attention spans are shorter. They can't sit and listen to a longer story anymore, so I use shorter stories and we do a lot of switching around. We read a couple of stories real quick and then we do some activities and then we keep doing different things.”

Avery said it’s been “very exciting” to see the way things have changed in the library due to technology and she’s looking forward to seeing how it changes more in the future. 

Miss Connie has been thinking about retiring for “a while,” but just didn’t see the opportunity with the library being busy and then COVID-19 hit. 

“We were trying to work the library through that,” Avery said. “We've had to make changes in what we're doing and offering and then I thought if I was going to do it, I should just retire. I made the decision and once I said it out loud, I had to stick with it."

Avery said she will miss the kids, staff and parents. But she plans to still be around and see people when she can. She’s looking forward to being able to stay home when the weather is bad. She’s excited to be able to read more “grown up” books now. 

“While it's going to be hard, I will enjoy it,” Avery said. “I've enjoyed my time here in Rochelle. I've made lots of friends in all kinds of ways. Sometimes I worked upstairs in the adult department. I've met a lot of people and that's fun. It'll be exciting to see people outside of the library."