Resa Mai MLIS PhD
Director 

rmai@morrislibrary.com

815.942.6880

Compensation Declaration

A Message From Your Director

July 2025 -Welcome to summer and my fifth year with the Morris Area Public Library.  I say this all of the time, but I cannot believe it has only been five years.  I feel like I should have been here my entire life.  YOU, the community of Morris has made me so welcome.  And YOU, the patrons of our library have ensured that not only is our library thriving but that it is also growing.  I love seeing you at our programs.  I love your support and feedback you provide. We appreciate the program ideas and the book requests.  It is evident that the library is as much, or more, yours than ours.  

The Morris Area Public Library reflects our community.  We get better every day because of your encouragement and input.  A great example is our Little Free Library. Grundy County Woodworkers built it for us, Lisa painted it for us and the community brings and borrows books from it on a daily basis.  But what really shows the community is when some ants got in and thought they could live in it.  Our community reached out and let us know.  Within hours we had it cleaned, disinfected and ready for use.  This is the kind of relationship that makes all of us better.  And I thank you.

Speaking of community, we are making amazing progress on our addition.  Narvick Brothers Construction have the old building fenced off and are getting ready to take it down.  Over the next year all of the plans we have been working on will be given a physical presence.  We are building more community space in the library because the library is nothing without our community.

Thank you again for your support and I look forward to seeing all of you at our programs and in the library.

Staff Members

Tammy Baldine

Karen Barowsky

Pam Burton

Tanya Berndt

Megan Murray

Thomas Sargent

Head of Technical Services

Marketing Specialist

Head of Programming

Business Manager

Head of Children’s Department

IT Specialist

tbaldine@morrislibrary.com

kbarowsky@morrislibrary.com

pburton@morrislibrary.com

tberndt@morrislibrary.com

mmurray@morrislibrary.com

tsargent@morrislibrary.com

Staff Information

Including the Director, the library employs four full-time positions; Business Manager, IT Specialist, and one Patron Services Specialist. As of the start of 2025, there are sixteen part time employees. These positions include; Head of Children’s Department, Head of Programming, Head of Technical Services, Marketing Specialist, Shelver and ten Patron Services Specialists.

Legally Required Insurance File