Mather has overseen the renovation and expansion of the popular facility.
By MARLA KORENICH
USFSP Student Reporter
GULFPORT – The only part of his job that David Mather doesn’t like is “managing the bathrooms.”
Mather, 39, is director of the Gulfport Public Library and IT director for the city.
A lot of changes have come since Mather became director in 2012.
“He has completely changed the library,” said Cathy Salustri, a writer and Gulfport resident. “Before, it was a foreboding, rules-oriented place. Today it’s more of a piazza.”
The Gulfport library has about 12,000 “active users,” Mather said. The library has a collection of 75,546 items, including books and movies, and a monthly schedule packed with activities for readers, writers, ukulele players, Alcoholic Anonymous members, movie buffs, yoga enthusiasts and more.
When the library got a large donation of lesbian materials, Mather said, he had to decide whether to sell them or create a collection.
The Circle of Friends, a support group that funds cultural programming, suggested an LGBTQ resource center, and it is the first one in a public library in Florida.
The library also hosts LGBTQ events each month that attract 50 to 100 people, according to Mather.
Youth librarian Cailey Klasson has brought more young people to the library, Mather says.
Mather saw the need for an improvement in the children’s area of the library, so he hired a part-time youth librarian, Cailey Klasson, 29. It led to a full-time position. There are 10 times more children attending story time since she joined the library.
“She’s successful at getting younger people in here. There used to be two or three kids at story time. Now there are 20 to 30,” Mather said.
Before becoming library director in 2012, Mather was one of three administrators for the Pasco County library system, running seven libraries. He missed working in a city library and engaging with the community, he said, and that led him to Gulfport.
In 2013, the library received between more than $350,000 for renovations from the Pinellas Public Library Cooperative, donations and the city of Gulfport.
Mather said he developed a vision of what the library should look like, shared the plans with the City Council, his employees and community members, and was there nearly every day during the four months of renovations.
“It is important to ask everyone, especially in a small place,” Mather said.
While the library was closed, the staff moved operations to Scout Hall a few blocks away. According to Klasson, Mather handled the transition well.
“He did such a great job with the renovations. He heard everyone out, and he did it seamlessly,” Klasson said.
Earlier this year, Mather nominated the library for the state’s Library of the Year award. It didn’t win, but to his surprise, he was named Librarian of the Year by the Florida Library Association.
“Somehow the community nominated me for the award, and the panel must have really liked me,” Mather said.
Klasson was part of that community. When Mather was in the process of nominating the library, Klasson noticed she could nominate a librarian. And that’s what she and a few others did.
Mather received a master’s in American history at Villanova University and a master’s in library and information technology at Drexel University.He liked the research part of his history studies, he said, and he enjoyed working in customer service jobs while in college. That led to his career in libraries.
Mather still drives to work from New Port Richey so that his three children can remain in school there.
It helps, he said, that his job doesn’t even feel like work.