Correspondent photo / Nancilynn Gatta Karen Murphy looks at some of the notes and cards that Cortland Branch library patrons wrote to her with their best wishes for this new chapter in her life during her recent retirement party at the community room at the library.

CORTLAND — Karen Murphy, the Cortland branch manager of the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library, planned to stay a little longer at her job.

“I thought I would work at least one more year, but the house I am renting is going to be sold and I turned 65, so I thought this was a good time to retire,” Murphy said.

Her time there ended Jan. 31.

For 20 years, the Champion High School graduate managed the branch, but librarian was not her initial career path.

“I originally thought I wanted to be an accountant, but didn’t care for the schoolwork. After two years of accounting classes and juggling various part-time jobs as a working mom, including secretarial work, I realized that becoming a librarian had always been my goal,” she said.

In 1972, she moved from New Castle, Pa. to Ohio, but it was prior to that relocation that she encountered the person who would inspire her to follow in their footsteps.

“When I was in grade school, the librarian at Shenango County Elementary School was named Miss Book. I wanted to be just like her,” Murphy said.

“I’ve loved reading ever since I was a young girl. A lot of librarians go different routes and end up where they are because that is where they are supposed to be. I did the same thing, thinking I was going to be an accountant and then I thought what I really want to do is to be a librarian,” she said.

She did receive a bachelor’s degree in business at Kent State University prior to her master’s program.

Murphy spent all of her library employment at locations within the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library system.

“I started at the Howland branch as a library specialist part-time. About a year after I started there, I went to Kent State University’s School of Library and Information Science. I was accepted into their graduate program. I started classes part-time. It was back in the day when you had to drive to class. You didn’t have the luxury of taking it online. I worked a couple of years at the Howland branch part-time and then a full-time position opened at downtown Warren in the technical services department,” Murphy said.

She explained the duties of the technical services position.

“It is where they do all the processing of books and videos that come in. We make it ready to go on the shelves and create the catalogue records. I worked there for about two years,” she said.

Then she moved to the reference department as a full-time employee.

“That was a professional position. Then I became the teen librarian. I was there maybe five or six years,” she said.

In 2006, she transferred to the Cortland branch library as manager. Most of her time spent there was at the new location of almost three acres on Lakeview Drive in Cortland. It had its grand opening in 2012.

Throughout her time as manager, Murphy learned that it was the correct career path for her.

“I enjoy meeting new people, sharing my enthusiasm about books and having access to a wide range of information,” she said.

Numerous people who she met as strangers became work pals and were present when the Friends of the Cortland Library hosted a retirement party for Murphy, who has travel plans in her future.

Even former coworkers showed up, such as Megan Powell of Warren, who is on maternity leave from her new job.

“I came to wish Karen all my best wishes as she goes into her next chapter. She deserves all the time that she wants to take to travel now,” Powell said.

Besides traveling, Murphy plans to garden, repurpose old furniture and work on her family history in her retirement.

Joshua Nauman, a former reference librarian at Warren-Trumbull County Public Library, is the new Cortland branch manager.