Meribah Mansfield

Meribah Mansfield was Director of Worthington Libraries from 1991 to 2010. She served as Fiscal Officer from 2003 to 2010.

Meribah worked in Central Ohio public libraries for almost 38 years. After receiving her B.A. degree in English from Wittenberg University and her M.L.S. degree from Western Michigan University, she began her library career as a reference and young adult librarian in 1972 at the Bexley Public Library. She worked in several positions at the Upper Arlington Public Library, including Assistant Director, served as director of the Fairfield County District Library and as director of the Main Library at the Columbus Metropolitan Library before joining Worthington Libraries.

She is a past president of the Ohio Library Association and past chair of the Ohio Library Council Board of Trustees. Meribah was a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission that formed the Ohio Public Library Information Network, and served on the OPLIN board from 1995-2001. She was twice an instructor of the "Foundations of Librarianship" course for Kent State University School of Library and Information Science, and she was a member of the Public Library Association and the American Library Association. She served on the OHIONET Board of Directors and the State Library of Ohio's Resource Sharing Commission. She was elected to serve on the OCLC Global Council from July 2005 through June 2010.

Meribah was involved in several building projects, including the renovation and addition to Columbus' Main Library in 1991, the Northwest Library in 1996 and the Old Worthington Library in 1998. Meribah and her staff developed Worthington Memory, a digitization project to celebrate Worthington's Bicentennial in 2003. The Worthington Park Library opened in the Worthington Park Centre in April 2008. Renovations of the Old Worthington Library and the Northwest Library were completed in 2009. Worthington Libraries' first Web site debuted in 1997 and was completely redesigned in both 2001 and 2008.

Under her direction, Worthington Libraries received the national Library of the Year award for 2007 from Gale/Library Journal. Worthington Libraries also received Special Mention as a finalist in the Library of the Year competition in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2006. Worthington Libraries received the first annual netConnect Library Web Site Award in the small public library category in 2002.

Worthington Libraries received the Government Finance Officers Association's Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for its first-ever Comprehensive Annual Financial Report of its 2006 fiscal year, and also for its 2007 and 2008 CAFRs. It also received the Auditor of State's "Making Your Tax Dollars Count" Award for 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Meribah received the Librarian of the Year Award from the Ohio Library Council in 2003, the Friend of the Year Award from Kent State University School of Library and Information Science in 2003, a Key Communicator Award from the Worthington Schools in 2003, and the Leadership for a Lifetime Award from Leadership Worthington in 1999. Meribah was very involved in the Worthington community while she was director of Worthington Libraries.

Meribah lives in Columbus with her husband Bruce. Her son Matthew attends Elon University in North Carolina. Her daughter, Jessica Mead, lives with her husband Doug and two young sons, Owen and Connor, in Perrysburg, Ohio. She is a school librarian at the Fallen Timbers Middle School in Whitehouse, Ohio. Doug is Chair of the Fine and Performing Arts Department at Owens Community College. Stepson Ben lives in Japan with his wife Satoko and son Sho. Stepdaughter Elizabeth lives in Chicago.

Meribah is in school preparing to be ordained as a deacon in the Episcopal Church in June 2012. Deacons are ordained clergy who volunteer to represent Christ and his Church, particularly as a servant of those in need, and to assist bishops and priests during public worship in the proclamation of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments. After ordination, Meribah will be assigned to a parish in the Diocese of Southern Ohio, hopefully in the Columbus area. Meribah will begin fieldwork at an assigned parish this September.

Meribah said upon retirement, "It has been my honor and pleasure to serve the people of Worthington as director of their Library, which was first established in 1803. Working together with the supportive trustees, outstanding staff and generous community and Friends to continually improve library service has been my passion, and it has been truly fulfilling."

rev. July 2010