Tonda Morris started her position as the new director of Bruton Memorial Library Feb. 16. She had been working as a librarian in Georgia, but Morris is happy to return to her hometown after years of being away.
“She met all of our qualifications for the position, she did an excellent job in the interview with our team, and she also had an opportunity to meet with our employees and tour the Bruton Memorial Library at the end of December,” Mike Herr, city manager, said. “She also met with our library board members as well and did an excellent job conversing with the library board.”
For the past 12 years, Morris worked as the head librarian at Whitefield Academy Preparatory School in Mableton, Georgia, a suburb of the Atlanta area. Before that, she was a youth services librarian with the city of Smyrna, Georgia, for nine years.
Morris holds a bachelor’s degree in social work from Mars Hill University, and a master’s degree in library and information science from Valdosta State University, where she had a 4.0 GPA.
“I thought that was absolutely excellent,” Herr said.
Morris comes from a family that represents Plant City through and through. Her great-great-grandfather immigrated from Ireland, settled in the area and was a strawberry farmer. Her grandfather, Don Walden Sr., was mayor of Plant City for multiple terms in the 1940s. And one of her aunts was a Strawberry Queen in the festival’s early years.
Morris graduated from Plant City High School. She remembers walking to Bruton Memorial Library as a young student and always knew where to look for her favorite books.
“I loved this library when I was growing up,” Morris said. “When I found out that they had an opening here … I was quite interested.”
Morris’ first goal is to orient herself with the library’s current programs, and then to “capitalize on the successful programs they already have in place, and look for opportunities for new programs,” she said.
“Libraries are similar in many ways, but they all have their own unique programming,” she said.
As a public librarian in Smyrna, Morris worked closely with Friends of the Library because the group was essential for the library’s success. She hopes to continue this sort of relationship with Friends of the Library in Plant City.
“What I like best about being a librarian in a city, is that you’re really meeting the needs of the citizenry,” Morris said. “I love that idea of being part of the city team.”
Morris was originally scheduled to start in March, but her start date was moved up to Monday, Feb. 16. Her annual salary will be $73,000, in addition to a weekly $45 allowance for transportation.
Contact Catherine Sinclair at csinclair@plantcityobserver.com.