After 30 Years, Retirement for Librarian Helene Corlett

In a way, Madison lost a small piece of history when Helene Corlett retired last month from the Madison Public Library.

Corlett, a lifelong Madison resident, had been a full-time employee of the library for 30 years. At the time of her retirement, she served as a circulation desk supervisor, while operating as manager of Local History Services at the library. In the latter capacity, she became a vital repository of town history and responsible for maintaining the library's archive of town maps, documents and stories.

But times are changing. In the current budget squeeze, pay and service cuts have become a fact of life at the public library. When Corlett found out that future cuts might reduce or eliminate her pension, she chose to retire from full-time work.

"The only reason I left is because of the possible change in my pension from the state," she said. "I stood to lose thousands of dollars if I didn't leave now. I hate to go. The library has meant so much to me, and I love the people here."

Corlett began working at the public library in 1980, working part-time as a page so she could be home to pick up and drop off her children at school. When those kids went off to college, Corlett stuck around, increasing her hours and working behind the circulation desk.

"She's been an excellent supervisor," said Nancy Adamczak, the library's Director who had been working there 10 years before Corlett started. "Very capable, very intelligent. She was very dedicated to the purpose and philosophy of a public library."

According to Adamczak, after Corlett became a full-timer, she also took on the responsibility of managing the library's collection of Madison historical documents, coordinating her efforts with the large collection of data at the Madison Historical Society and indexing the Madison Eagle. It was a job for which she was perfectly suited.

"Helene can look at old pictures and say 'Oh, I used to have sodas there after school,'" said Pauline Lang, Corlett's friend and coworker, who also retired from the library last month. "She knows the town inside and out."

She spent time in a crowded, narrow, out-of-the-way archive room, organizing birth certificates and land records to make them suitable for public access.

One door down lies the library's historical services room, filled with meticulously organized yearbooks, photos and other relics of the town's past, and beyond that is the cluttered, tiny office where Corlett managed a small staff.

This was Corlett's second home, where her fellow employees became her second family. When she needed support and camaraderie, they provided it.

"Eight years ago, my husband fell ill, and everyone here took the time to support me and give me whatever I needed," she said. "Their support and friendship was incredible."

And when Corlett's job was in danger last year, due to severe budget cuts, a number of library workers took a voluntary pay cut to save keep her working full-time.

"I couldn't believe that people would do that for me," she said.

Sixteen months later, with more cuts possible in the near future, Corlett decided it was time to leave.

It won't be the complete end of Corlett's relationship with her second family, though: she said she would like to continue indexing the Eagle, and to volunteer for a few hours per week, spending at least part of her retirement with her ex-coworkers and friends.

"We have a small staff, and we work together on a daily basis," she said. "We hear about each other's families, and our problems. They took a cut in pay for me, how can you not care about people like that?"