On Sunday, May 3, 2015, the Barrington Area Library will honor long-time Trustee Richard J. Ryan, who has served on the Library's Board of Trustees for a total of almost 36 years.  A reception will be held at the Library from 2-4 PM. All are invited to enjoy light refreshments, celebrate Dick Ryan's legacy, and thank him for his many years of service, dedication, vision, and community engagement.

Ryan served as Board Treasurer from 1974 to 1980, and as Board President for 25 years, from 1985 to 2010. He plans to step down in May of 2015, after fulfilling his current six-year term.

Even before he was elected to the Board in 1974, he served on the Barrington Area Development Council’s ad hoc library committee and acted as co-chair of the library coordinating committee for publicity. In 1991, the Library broke ground on a 31,000-square-foot addition and renovation project for the library he had help to build in 1978. Of course, he also served on the Board of Trustees that approved and oversaw the Barrington Area Library's complete renovation in 2013-2014.

In 2012, Ryan received the ALA Trustee Citation, established in 1941 to recognize public library Trustees for distinguished service to library development, honors the best contributions and efforts of the estimated 60,000 American citizens who serve on library boards. Ryan was one of only two recipients that year.

When asked to support Ryan's nomination for the ALA Trustee Citation, current Library Board President Don Minner praised Ryan for his persistence in seeing projects through to completion, his tirelessness in advocating for the library within the community, and his openness to new ideas and services within the library. In 2011, Minner and the other trustees bestowed upon Ryan the honorary title of President Emeritus. Executive Director Detlev Pansch notes that Ryan is both an engaged board member and enthusiastic library user, checking out materials several times a week, greeting staff members by name and often attending monthly staff meetings to acknowledge service milestones of longtime employees. Board President Minner sums it up best: “Richard J. Ryan’s decades of work on behalf of the Barrington Area Library can be seen and felt in every part of the building and its grounds, and experienced in all of its collections and services.”

We would be honored if you would join us in in celebrating Mr. Richard J. Ryan.