Hallie Rich, 38
Director of communications & external relations, Cuyahoga County Public Library
Within a span of five days in late October, the Cuyahoga County Public Library threw a live watch party of PBS's "The Great American Read" finale, hosted a naturalization ceremony for new U.S. citizens and welcomed best-selling author John Grisham — on top of its usual slate of storytimes, technology and educational clinics, book discussions and homework help. The team responsible for this ever-growing list of community offerings works under the direction of Hallie Rich.
"We also engage donors and library support at different levels," she said, "and we help to continue to tell the library story so that we encourage Cuyahoga County residents to use the library and to be active readers and active lifelong learners utilizing the library space."
Rich joined the library system a little over six years ago, seeing it as a unique opportunity to leverage her expertise in writing and communication and combine that with her personal passion for books and public libraries. Growing up in Bay Village, Rich said she was an "avid reader and customer of the Cuyahoga County Public Library." The College of Wooster graduate earned a master's degree in positive organizational development from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University and worked in strategic communications at BrownFlynn prior to being recruited by CCPL Executive Director Sari Feldman.
Feldman said Rich's tenure has been marked by a "broadening of her role and status in the organization as well as her current title." Outside the system's 27 branches, Rich, who lives in Avon Lake, was influential in development and implementation of the American Library Association's successful "Libraries Transform" marketing campaign.
"Hallie facilitated conversations to develop the campaign's theme, secured a national donor for the campaign, worked with the marketing and communications firm and the ALA, and led the communications program for the 60,000-member organization," Feldman said.
The Rich File
An open book: Rich loves to read, whether it's fiction or nonfiction, and is an avid fan of audiobooks and podcasts.
Branching out: "Today, libraries are less about what we have for people — those books on the shelves — and more about what we are doing with and for people, really connecting people to programs and services that are instrumental in their lives."