Library Shaken by Staff Departures  

By Lee Burnett and Lawrence Furbish 

Goodall Memorial Library, which has been facing financial and leadership challenges for months, abruptly lost three employees this week.  

The departures began when General Manager Julie Norsworthy fired a staffer. In response, another quit and a third retired without notice. That leaves five employees, including Norsworthy, to run the library. 

Board of Trustees Chairperson Jordan Godin confirmed the sequence of events when reached by email. 

“As a matter of policy, the Goodall Library does not comment publicly on personnel matters out of respect for the individuals’ privacy. While the recent departures from our team sadden 

us, we remain focused on building a positive future for the library and the community we  

serve,” she wrote. 

“We are committed to stabilizing operations and ensuring a smooth transition. Once we  

complete the move into the new building, we will begin the process of hiring new staff to meet the needs of our patrons.” 

The staff turmoil adds to multiple crises Goodall is enmeshed in. 

The library is preparing to move back to its newly renovated building at 952 Main St. this summer, but to do so it must shut down for about a month to move its collection from its temporary home at the Center for Shopping. Completion of construction has been delayed due to severe cash-flow problems that forced contractors to pull crews off the job for six months. Costs have escalated $600,000 to $4.5 million. 

The library has been without a library director since the departure of Ann Thomas last October. The board hired Norsworthy, a former teacher at the Sanford YMCA, as business manager. The library has requested to post an advertisement for a permanent director on the Maine State Library website and expects a response shortly. In the meantime, the Board of Trustees has suffered from low participation and turnover. The last two to leave were the vice chair and treasurer. The board launched an active recruitment campaign and added 10 new board members. 

The turmoil burst in the open during March budget deliberations before the Sanford City Council, which provides a portion of library funding. Several councilors expressed alarm at the situation and requested remedial action to address board experience and governance, expenditures, and number of library patrons. 

In the meantime, the library, like others, is facing federal funding cuts that threaten interlibrary loans, high-speed internet, Cloud Library e-books and books for the blind and visually impaired.