Farewell Sheree Gross

On Friday 22 December Waipā District Libraries says goodbye to popular Te Awamutu Library Supervisor, Sheree Gross. Sheree has worked with Council for 28 years having started work on 26 February 1996.

Sheree was first employed as a Senior Library Assistant working in the Roche Street Library.

Sheree had moved from Wellington where she was a serials librarian at Wellington Teachers’ College Library. Her career in libraries had started down there in 1990, at the Alexander Turnbull Library, before moving to the College. Prior to that she had worked for 15 years at the Northern Advocate newspaper in Whangarei.

Her fellow librarians in the Te Awamutu Library in Roche Street in 1996 were Lesley French, Angela Duncan, Samantha Peehi and Debbie Dally. Rosemary Bublitz was District Librarian at the time.

Sheree became acting Supervisor in 2000 and in 2001 was permanently appointed to the role. During this time plans for the new library were afoot, and this came to fruition in 2016. Being able to be part of the planning for the new library is one of the highlights of her time with the libraries.

Sheree lists her greatest achievements as knowing that the work she has done to make the library successful has had such a positive impact on the community and seeing the benefits people get from having access to such a great library.

Sheree has also been instrumental in the libraries’ holiday and summer reading programmes and takes great pleasure in seeing how popular they are.

She cites how much fun children’s programming has been over the years and has enjoyed the Christmas Parades, milestone birthdays, celebrating staff successes and milestones and seeing people in the community using and enjoying the libraries. Watching some of her early customers grow up and bring their children to the library is also a joy.

When asked what she will miss most, she says, ‘that’s easy! It’s the people’. ‘Customers who I have grown to know so well and the amazing people I have worked with in Council, in a variety of ways. Most of all it is the amazing teams I have always had around me, too many people to mention over nearly 28 years, the whole Waipā Libraries team, who have always been so much fun to work with, and my current, fantastic team who have become much more than just work mates to me. There is a quote I love that says it all – A truly great team is hard to find, difficult to part with and impossible to forget!’

Thank you Sheree from all of us at Council and Waipā District Libraries. We wish you all the very best for your retirement.