Staff photo by Grace MacIntyre Elizabeth “Baz” Perry joined the Lake Placid Public Library as director this summer. She is pictured here in the library on Wednesday, Nov. 12.

LAKE PLACID ­– Elizabeth “Baz” Perry spent her childhood coming to the Adirondacks for two weeks every year. By age five, she would announce “We’re home!” every time the family pulled up to the cabin.

And so it’s no surprise that she now calls Lake Placid her home. Perry is the new director of the Lake Placid Public Library, joining the team after an extensive search following the 10-year tenure of previous director Bambi Pedu.

Perry has worked for libraries and nonprofits for more than two decades. She discovered a love for library work while attending Harvard Divinity School, where she had a work-study job in the library. It started as a break from her studies, but she fell into a group of like-minded people, librarians who were artists, writers and intellectuals in their own right but who had chosen a path of service by helping other people with their research.

“Serving in that information world was even more fulfilling than becoming a specialized researcher,” Perry said.

After that, she looked for library schools, which took her to the University of Michigan. This was around the time that the internet was starting to revolutionize the way people share and access information.

However, a car accident and subsequent health problems made it challenging for Perry to work at a computer, so she needed a change. After living in Michigan for 10 years, her husband got a job at Cornell, so they moved with their two young kids to Ithaca, where Perry’s parents also lived. She started a farm, raising a variety of animals from llamas to ducks. This led her to work in the nonprofit sector with the Cornell Cooperative Extension.

“What’s wonderful is that the skills I gained there really complement the sort of technical library skills,” Perry said, “because I was working in adult education and I was working in community collaborations.”

She worked with school systems and food pantries during the chaos of the pandemic, learned about economic development through the eyes of small farmers, and found ways to meet very specific information needs in small communities.

When her husband’s job became remote, they took the opportunity to move to Lake Placid. This was around two years ago, and Perry immediately started to look for local jobs and ways to get plugged into the community. When the opportunity at Lake Placid Public Library opened up, it was exactly what she was looking for.

Perry joined the library in June and officially took the helm in July. The library also recently hired Josh Allen as an information technology librarian. Allen has a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Washington and previously worked as a library coordinator at Renton Technical College Library in the Seattle, Washington area.

Martha Bullock, president of the library board, said the new staff members have provided a set of “fresh eyes” to take stock of what the library is doing well, and what they can do to grow their services.

“It’s grounded all of us to really think about what we have, who we are, and knowing ourselves in a way that will position us well going forward,” she said.

Allen and Perry join longtime staff members Karen Armstrong, Madonna Barney, Linda Blair and Kate Curry. Pedu, during her tenure of more than 10 years, worked hard alongside the rest of the staff to establish the library as a bustling hub of children’s programming.

Now, the goal is to expand adult programming as well — a vision that Perry shares.

“I’d like our calendar to really be full of things that have come from the community, so that this space that is being taken care of every day is full,” she said.

This new programming includes everything from wellness classes like tai chi and yoga to game nights where people can learn to play mahjong. As Perry has gotten to know members of the community, volunteers with unique interests and skills have been coming out of the woodwork.

The library is also planning a digital literacy program for adults. During her career, Perry has watched as the internet has exploded the amount of information, and misinformation, available to people. This is a far cry from the days when a local library might have just been a cart of books pulled by a horse. However, part of the role of the librarian in our world today, Perry said, is to help people navigate a rapidly changing media and information space.

Perry is bursting with ideas about different ways to use the library space, but for now, her focus is on learning and responding to the needs of the community. In contrast to the academic libraries where she started her career, a public library is a shared institution and reflects the community around it.

The library is seeking some funding to add some additional workspaces and perhaps a private meeting room. No matter what, Perry wants the library to continue to be a welcoming space. It’s one of the things that she noticed two years ago when she moved to Lake Placid.

“We are not only welcoming, but we really do put service first,” Perry said. “The staff here goes out of their way to serve someone.”

This is part of the 140-year legacy that Perry and her team now have the opportunity to build upon.