Library Directors

Within weeks of arriving in Worthington in 1803, the village's settlers established its first library, the Stanbery subscription library. According to Lisa D. Fuller in "The 200-Year History of Worthington Libraries: 1803-2003," the group of settlers met to discuss the rules for the library and chose Zophar Topping to "Keep & take Care of the Library Belonging to this Company." 

Throughout the 1800s, library service in Worthington took many forms, including a thriving literary society in the 1820s and 30s, a school-board sponsored library in the late 1850s, and a "People's Library," established around 1870 with books from Harper Brothers Publishing and issued by the postmaster, Frank W. Bishop.

The Fortnightly Club, a women's Shakespeare study club, supported the library in the early 1900s, leading to the founding of the Worthington Public Library Association. This group worked to establish a library building, as the library had outgrown its space as a single room in the Kilbourne Commercial Building (679-681 High Street). In 1931, Worthington's first library building, the Kilbourne Memorial Library, was completed at 752 High Street. 

Throughout the 1900s, library directors were known as "librarian" or "head librarian." When Bernice Daniels accepted the job in 1967, she was known as "head librarian"; by the time of her retirement in 1991 she was the "director." During Chuck Gibson's tenure, the title was changed from "director" to "chief executive officer."