Navajo County has only ever had one county librarian. Her name is Geneva Durkee and this month, after more than 22 years of service, she will retire.
Durkee became the Navajo County Librarian in 1997 after having been the head librarian at Northland Pioneer College. Before that, she spent time in libraries across the country, learning all that she could in various aspects of the job.
“My first job was at a state penitentiary in Washington state as a prison librarian. I decided after three years that I needed to get into a more challenging position in terms of the library work.”
She went to Odessa, Tex., and became the head of the reference department. “In Texas, I started a Spanish language department, and oversaw the Southwest Genealogy Department.” She then took over as the supervising reference librarian in Spokane County in Washington.
When she took the job at Navajo County, Geneva recalled, “I was in a little office in the Superior Court building, where the law library is. Our libraries weren’t automated, and the library district had just been created.”
In 1997, only three libraries had automated systems. Durkee had a major role in making sure the rest of the facilities followed suit. In the 22 years she has been with the county, Durkee has been responsible for not only overseeing the 14 libraries that are in the district, but also federal funding and grants for those facilities. In her early days with the district, she received four Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grants in one year. “That was unheard of, and required a lot of work, but I enjoy doing that kind of work.”
The libraries in Navajo County receive some funding from the State of Arizona, but for the most part, according to Durkee, grants and donations make the system work. Most recently, she has applied for and received a grant from the state to put microscopes in each library in the county. Those are available for check out and for use in the facilities. Durkee sees the importance of encouraging library patrons of all ages to explore science and technology as often as possible.
“To be able to get these tools into the hands of little kids and senior citizens, and those that otherwise may not have access to them is rewarding.”
Throughout her time with the county, Durkee has focused on remodeling, renewing and revamping the small libraries. For example, she shared a story about the Hopi library system that is an ongoing project.
“At one time there was a small library in the Hopi village of Shungopavi. The tribal administrators told them they didn’t need them there, so it shut down. The goal was to have their own tribal run library. It didn’t work. I worked to get that little library into the library district so that the county could get them a facility. Well, that project still hasn’t panned out in the way that it needs to but we have made progress. We have a mobile library truck and a vehicle that travels around with laptops on it for people to use.”
Besides the Hopi library project, Durkee has many stories of volunteer run small libraries with outdated collections and little technology that she has helped to turn around.
Navajo County Manager Glenn Kephart said of Durkee, “The name Geneva is synonymous with library in our county.”
As she looked back on her career in Navajo County, she recalled the many changes she has seen over the years.
“We now have a website for the library district, we have social media and more technology everywhere. We also have all of these great collections, 14 libraries and collections that rotate between them all. As I leave, I would love to see the library district bring on a full-time children’s librarian. I would also like to see the Hopi and McNary libraries come to fruition.”
Durkee is a treasure trove of information and skills needed to successfully run a library district. She spoke very highly of the volunteers and librarians and library directors that run each facility.
In her retirement, she said, “Well, I would like to travel more and catch up on my reading. I have always enjoyed library work, and I will miss it, but it is time to move on. It has been an extremely rewarding and challenging tenure.”
