GULF SHORES — After working as a librarian for 25 years, Wendy Congiardo retired from her position as managing librarian of the Thomas B. Norton Public Library, with her official last day having been Oct. 31.

Congiardo worked for the Gulf Shores library 20 years, starting just two weeks before Hurricane Ivan made landfall. Before moving here, Congiardo worked at the public library in Hartselle for five years.

Though Congiardo was "a big fan" of working for Gulf Shores' library and also enjoyed her time in northern Alabama, she didn't always plan to be a librarian.

"I went to college at the University of Tennessee at Martin, and I majored in criminal justice," Congiardo said. "I thought I was going to be a lawyer."

A LIBRARIAN IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Growing up in a small town in West Tennessee, she had never worked in a library or even thought about it, but she loved books and "always loved to read," with her favorite childhood series being the Trixie Belden mystery books.

It wasn't until her sophomore year of college when she was placed in a work study program that she first considered the career.

Congiardo enjoyed her work study at the college library so much that she considered changing her major to library sciences, but since that degree wasn't offered at her school at the time, she tried English. She said she felt "like a fish out of water" since everyone else had been there together for a year, so she went back to criminal justice.

After graduating from college, Congiardo worked as a juvenile probation officer before deciding the courtroom was not for her and taking a job as a social worker in Tennessee. During this time, her husband finished his studies at Vanderbilt University Law School.

The Congiardo couple moved to Decatur for him to practice law with someone he had gone to school with. He passed the bar exam in Alabama, and she got a new job in social work.

THE MOVE TOWARD A CAREER IN BOOKS

About six months after they moved, a new Books-A-Million opened, and Congiardo, not really enjoying her office environment, decided to apply.

"I thought, 'Why not?' I love books and reading," Congiardo said, "so I applied there and started out as the customer service manager."

After working in retail for a while, Congiardo moved with her husband's practice to Hartselle where a job had opened at the Hartselle Public Library for a full-time librarian. She decided to apply and got the job.

"I had a couple of really good mentors," Congiardo said. "The librarian in Athens and the one in Decatur helped a lot. They told me the state would help me get my master's if I applied for a grant."

She received the grant and started her Library and Information Studies Master at the University of Alabama. She went to "weekend college" where she attended all-day classes in Tuscaloosa or Gadsden for one weekend each month and completed her assignments in between class meetings.

With one year left before she received her masters, Congiardo was looking to work in a new place and since her husband could practice anywhere in Alabama, and what better place than the beach?

In 2004, Congiardo applied for the position as a librarian at the Thomas B. Norton Public Library and was offered a job that July. A month later, she moved into a condo that one of her advisors owned on West Beach Boulevard.

Two weeks after she started working, Hurricane Ivan hit Gulf Shores.

"We still had the house in Hartselle because my husband was still working there at the time," Congiardo said, "so I just evacuated there. I had to be at work the next Monday, so I drove back through the night to get there by 7 a.m."

And so began Congiardo's 20-year experience at the Gulf Shores library. In 2005, she received her masters, and "about 10 to 15 years ago," Congiardo started to also manage the Gulf Shores Museum, which is across the street from the library.

One of Congiardo's favorite memories of working at the library is when there was a statewide project to read the same book — "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" — and showcased the book in events.

"Part of one of the things we did in Gulf Shores was a Mardi Gras float," Congiardo said, "and I got to ride in the truck that pulled the float."

She said all her employees and their friends and family dressed as characters or in matching T-shirts with the book's title as they represented the library in the parade.

When asked what she learned from working as a librarian, Congiardo mentioned how a library can serve as "a safe haven" and "a benefit to the community."

"The library is one of the last places that you can go that you can get anything for free," Congiardo said she tells people often. "It hasn't changed from the time that I was a kid."

Congiardo wanted modern readers, researchers or general library goers to know that, while it can depend on which one you go to, libraries have more than the opportunity to borrow books and materials for free. They also offer a plethora of other free resources through apps like Libby and Boundless, where you can access free e-books, e-magazines and e-audios.

"Your library is paying for resources that you are not taking advantage of," Congiardo said. "There are so many things that you buy on Amazon that you can get for free from your library."

In Congiardo's leave, Deanne Fincher, who previously worked at the library as the youth services librarian, is serving as interim managing librarian in Gulf Shores. Congiardo said Fincher will provide "good leadership," and the staff as a whole will help the library "grow into the future."