Libraries say farewell to Julie Dutton

On Friday 23 December, libraries will say goodbye to their longest-serving member of staff.

Julie Dutton began her 48-year-long career working at Barry Library in July 1974 before progressing to work on the mobile library.

In 1980, she resigned from her post before the birth of her daughter Becky. She didn’t stay away long however because a year later, she was back, this time working part-time as Senior Library Assistant at Rhoose Library. 

Julie worked a total of 14 years at Rhoose running her own branch library and she became deeply involved in the community. Everyone seems to know and respect Julie, and none more so than the children and teachers from the village school who made weekly class visits to exchange their books and attend Julie’s library introduction classes. 

Planning and running activities for children, and selecting children’s books became a particular love for Julie and this continued to be a strength throughout her career. 

She went on to spend a couple of years at Barry library in the early 1990s running the Children’s department and a further period some years later providing leadership to Barry and the wider Vale Library Service as a temporary Children’s Librarian. 

In 1997 Julie moved to full-time work at Penarth Library and became the linchpin of a highly committed and experienced team of staff.

Children’s work remains an important aspect of her library work and during the pandemic, Julie was one of the first to reach out to children online with her regular online story sessions. 

But going online was just a small step for Julie, after all, she’d seen libraries transform during her time, and she rose to every challenge and could tell you stories about them all. 

From the introduction of the first staff computer system to the introduction of wi-fi, Julie has been here to support users and promote our services. 

Christopher Edwards, Library Services Manager said: “Julie has been an integral part of the success of the library service in the Vale and we’re going to seriously miss her. 

“She has helped make our libraries what they are today and has helped, supported and inspired tens of thousands of library users of all ages. 

“We salute her and wish her a fun-packed retirement.”

All the best Julie!