Lee Burchfield started working at Louisville Free Public Library in August 1997. He’s worn several hats during his tenure and became director in 2019.
In March, Burchfield announced he’d be retiring from the library. He spoke with LPM News about his time there and what he sees for the future of libraries nationwide.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Breya Jones: During your tenure at the library, especially as director, we saw several renovation projects take place, including the reopening of the Parkland library in the West End. Why were those projects important?
Lee Burchfield: There are neighborhoods across the county that may have access to a public library, may not have access to a public library, but that certainly don't have the same level of access, or access to the same level of resources that people in other neighborhoods across the county have.
So by now, coming back and focusing on some of the trouble spots that were already identified in that 2008 plan, and trying to improve the quality and ease of access to library services in the old urban services core, we're addressing some inequities that got created because of improvements that took place.
The second thing, of course, that's happening there is that our library system, despite all of that investment over the last 10 or 15 years, still doesn't meet state standards for the square footage of library space per capita for the population.
BJ: During your tenure, there were some issues that bubbled up between union workers during contract negotiations. Are there any lessons that you took away from that situation?
LB: The day that Mayor Fisher did his budget presentation to Metro Council, and in that budget presentation, he announced that the budget planned to reduce hours at all library locations except the regionals, down to 40 hours a week and to close Middletown and Fern Creek, and that was my first day on the job.
I have no quarrel with staff who were frustrated during those times. It was a really difficult situation. What did I learn? Things that I would take with me? You know, I think we all can always learn to be more patient and to listen to folks. I think back to particularly COVID, and there was quite a bit of conflict between the library's administration and staff as we were coming out of COVID, around what it was going to look like for the library to reopen.
I don't really look back on any of that and say we should have done this differently, or we should have done that differently. One of the things that I think we could have done better as library leadership is to convey to staff the extent to which, as part of the larger metro government workforce, we weren't really in a position to to make decisions that were different than what we're being made for the rest of Metro government.
BJ: We're seeing rising attacks on public information, and of course, by extension, that means libraries, from book bans to attempts to cut the Institute of Museums and Library Services. How, as a longtime library worker, do libraries move forward? And how do staff, local governments and communities that care about these libraries support them during this time?
LB: If I could answer that question, I'd be the president of the American Library Association or the executive director of ALA. The entire industry is asking exactly that question.
All libraries can do is be what libraries are. How do we present people insofar as possible with access to accurate information that spans the spectrum of ideologies in ways that provide people, insofar as possible, unfettered access to that and privacy while they're doing it?
It’s really up to the people to decide whether public libraries are an institution that they want to support or not. All we can really do is be as honest and fair and straightforward and transparent as possible about what that means and in situations where people threaten legal action or criminal charges or funding disruptions or disruptive in-person protests that try to disrupt the library's ability to have programs and do its work.
It's really hard to 100% accomplish that.
BJ: What are you going to do with your last few months as director?
LB: I'm going to be taking vacation for most of the month of May. So I'll be in the office in April. During May, there are some big things that are happening that I'll be here for, the How to Festival, a couple of library advisory commission meetings before June 1. So I'll be here for those.
But the days left in the office are starting to really go down. So what I would say is I feel really great about where the library system is right now, in terms of the leadership that's in place, in terms of the connections that we have with our community, with the support that we have from stakeholders, from Mayor Greenberg and his office and administration to the Friends of the Library to the Library Foundation, which does such great work to raise private funds to support and improve the work that our library does.
BJ: Is there anything I missed?
LB: I hope that one of the things that we have accomplished through some of the work that we've done, and that some of the momentum that is built. I hope that one of the outcomes of that will be a greater appreciation of the people in Louisville, about how talented and dedicated and hardworking the staff at our libraries are, and about just what a profound impact on the community they have through the work that they're doing.
