A longtime Rhinelander District Library leader has retired, sort of.
At a Tuesday retirement party at the Library, Jan Baer met well-wishers from her 47 years of being active in library affairs.
Jan Baer served on the Library board from 1988- 2018, serving as president from 1990-2017. She was part of the library planning committee in 1971.She was on the Oneida County Library Board from 1973-2010 and president from 1973-2001. She has also served on the Wisconsin Valley Library board for 20 years. She was named Wisconsin Library Association Trustee of the Year in 1996 and was a leader when the Rhinelander Library was Library of the Year in 2005.
Baer said she said it was time to move on...
"...It just seemed like it was time for someone to move in and do some of that. People tend to think being on a library board is a pretty cushy, easy job. It's an appointment and there's a certain honor as well. You get to work with some wonderful people and with service to your community, what more could you ask? But it's also much more complicated than people realize...."
She says libraries are not going by the wayside in the digital age, saying the communities are using them more than ever in different ways. She says once the public knows the potential within the library, the financial support will be there. Jan Baer says she will remain a part of the library's committee working on an expansion.
