Changes in the Stacks: A New Librarian at MacDuffie

Veteran MacDuffie students may remember the rumors surrounding the possibility of a Starbucks on the MacDuffie campus, and believe it or not, those rumors were true! According to Head of School Steve Griffin, the original plan for the space where the library is currently located was actually an admissions waiting room (a waiting area for visitors) complete with a cookie oven and yes, maybe even a Starbucks.

Clearly, this idea never came to fruition. Instead, as you likely know, that area became our library. The librarian from the old campus, Mrs. Reid, also came to manage the space, the material, and the students. One year ago Mrs. Reid retired, and Mrs. Feldberg was hired in her place.

During the first month of this school year, however, those who ventured into the library may have noticed that Mrs. Feldberg wasn’t there.

Legacy of the MacDuffie Library

According to Head of School Steve Griffin, “the largest privately held library in New England” was once the MacDuffie Library, a “private collection by the Friars,” who first used the building as a seminary. Originally it was located in the area that is now the stacks on the first and second floors, and a reading room was located in the wing of classrooms near the computer lab. This was also the intended location for the MacDuffie school library when the school moved here from Springfield. However, in 2011 Griffin decided to move the library to the space where it is now. Shelves around the outsides of the room accommodate roughly “3000 volumes.” The images of former heads of school currently decorate the walls in the library, from John MacDuffie and his wife Abigail all the way to a portrait of Griffin’s predecessor, Kathryn Gibson. Above the fireplace on the wall also hangs a framed tattered U.S. flag, recovered from the old MacDuffie campus after the tornado in 2011.

For those of you who have felt the consequences of a month without a librarian, take heart because the search is now over. The MacDuffie Library is now complete, the missing piece being Mrs. Jennifer Tuleja. Mrs. Tuleja most recently worked at Choate Rosemary Hall as the director of the Andrew Mellon Library, and she has worked at Hotchkiss, St. George’s, and Lawrence Academy in the past.

“Late this past summer, Mrs. Feldberg decided to retire,” Griffin said. Because of the late nature of Mrs. Feldberg’s decision, there was only about a month or less with which to find somebody else. Griffin, continuing, said that “rather than… have a snap process, we decided to do a full search for a replacement librarian.”

During the time in which the search was being carried out the library largely remained under control. However, the effects of Mrs. Feldberg’s absence could be observed in the occasional student on their phone, listening to music, socializing, or doing nothing. Other little details also stood out like the stack of books piled up on the librarian’s desk waiting to be organized.

Of course, the librarian has more responsibility than keeping order and processing books. These both fall under the broader spectrum of maintaining a space that facilitates learning. Other parts of this include working with the IT department and teachers to help students improve research and citation skills.

“That’s one of the challenges of a new librarian- to have her build that library space up as a learning hub,” Griffin said.

And so the “rich tradition of libraries” at MacDuffie continues now with Mrs. Tuleja.