Editor’s note: We highly recommend listening to this story.
New Hampshire state librarian Michael York retired in December after 25 years in the job.
New Hampshire’s state library, the oldest in the nation, is located across the street from the State House in downtown Concord. The library’s collections include town reports, family histories and other records going back centuries, and continues to expand with materials that reflect the state today.
“Our role as a state library is to collect materials that will tell the story of New Hampshire,” said York. “We have always been responsible to make sure that the citizens had access to information about their government.”
York's tenure came amid a wave of digital transformation. He said one of the biggest issues for the library was the Y2K scare. Leading up to the new millennium, people feared the transition from 1999 to 2000 would wreak havoc on computer systems across the globe.
“We had no idea what that might do,” he said, “And you weren't allowed to deal with a vendor who did not have a Y2K plan. I mean, there were all kinds of doomsday scenarios that everything would just come to a grinding halt, and we'd be in the dark and there'd be nuclear winter and all kinds of things. Well, nothing happened.”
In 2004, York oversaw the creation of the New Hampshire Downloadable Books Consortium. The service, a collaboration between the state library and 200 of the state’s public libraries, provides digital audiobooks, magazines, and eBooks to New Hampshire library patrons.
The state library also has a vault of old books, antiquities and historical artifacts. One item York likes to show off is the Franklin Pierce ring. It’s a golf-ball sized ring made of nine different types of gold that was given to former President Franklin Pierce by the state of California.
There are also items that date back to before New Hampshire was even a state. The library has a copy of the Declaration of Independence that was given to each of the colonies.
But York said these items need a new home if the state wants to keep them preserved. He said it’s virtually impossible to make the state library building climate-controlled.
“We do our best to honor the wishes of the donors and protect them. It's one of the reasons why we're looking, frankly, to move everything that we can out of this building to an off-site facility,” York said. “But I'm optimistic that we will get some movement in the next biennium on doing that. I won't be here, but maybe they'll invite me to the dedication.”
York has been New Hampshire’s state librarian since 1999. The next state librarian has not been announced.
