Timberland Library manager who fought to keep Mountain View Library open resigns

Three years ago, Randle’s Mountain View Library Manager Mary Prophit pleaded with Timberland leadership to inform the public that their library was on the chopping block. The public exploded with outrage when its learned of a plan to close a third of Timberland’s 27 libraries.

While the libraries were saved, Prophit says the culture of Timberland changed drastically. And last month, the Timberland employee of nearly three decades resigned.

“I was blamed for sounding the alarm when I didn’t. And I feel like I’ve had a freaking boot on my neck ever since,” Prophit told The Chronicle.

She described the workplace she loved suddenly becoming more restrictive, with poor communication and more bureaucracy. She believes leadership held a grudge against her.

“I felt like I was no longer in charge of my building. And everything has to come from above. I just felt this shift, like this inversion,” she said. “Why can’t I come up with creative solutions myself anymore?”

In 2018, amid outrage over planned library closures, then-Lewis County Commissioner Edna Fund called for new leadership at the organization, saying the lack of public input was “unconscionable.”

Following her resignation last month, Prophit attended a Timberland board meeting to offer suggestions to address a “serious leadership issue.” Those included getting new human resources personnel and conducting a turnover report and an anonymous staff survey.

Bob Hall, Timberland’s board president, told The Chronicle he “wasn’t happy to hear her concerns.”

“I thought she was incorrect in that,” he said.

Hall noted that a new location for Mountain View Library was recently secured. A 2013 change in leadership, he said, brought more accountability and ethics, “and not everybody’s comfortable with that.”

The way Hall sees it, Prophit dug her heels in after 2018, never getting on board with Timberland’s “change in direction.” Timberland’s communication feels more open now than before, he said, “but if you’re an unhappy camper, you may not see it that way.”

He added that Prophit’s work to develop new programming at Mountain View Library was good, and has been recognized as such.

Prophit will tell you that she’s not technically a librarian – a position that requires a specific master’s degree. She has a bachelor’s of science in natural resources and conservation, and got into library science working at an Army occupational specialty library in Germany after serving in active duty.

In 1993, she started at Timberland’s Mountain View Library. Years later, as manager, she began implementing a host of new programs for kids, teens and veterans.

True to her college degree and passion for the outdoors, Prophit partnered with the U.S. Forest Service to begin a “StoryTrail” program, pairing books – such as “The Big Woods Orchestra” – with interactive questions and a stroll through the Woods Creek Watchable Wildlife Trail.

She started special programming for teenage library patrons, who staff “could count on one hand with fingers left over,” Prophit said. But at the first-ever teen night event a few years ago, 15 teens showed up. The program then blossomed further.

“I literally cried. I cried tears of joy, because I couldn’t believe that we were able to get teens in the building,” Prophit said.

Though activities and pizza are provided, most teens enjoy simply having a gathering place in a town with no community center, no senior center and no other free Wi-Fi spot.

Prophit’s other passion project – the Veteran Connection Cafe – helps local vets file for benefits. Vietnam veterans with diabetes, for example, unaware that the disease’s link to Agent Orange may entitle them to disability compensation, have been walked through the often-complicated paperwork at the library.

In total, the program – a first in the state – has secured local veterans an additional $100,000 in annual benefits.

Retiring early means Prophit and her husband will be “pinching pennies,” she said, until her military pension kicks in. But she’ll get to enjoy more time with family, getting outdoors, volunteering and using the library. It’s the right choice for her health, she noted, describing a recent doctor’s visit.

“My blood pressure was so low they took it three times. And they said ‘What’s changed?’” Prophit said. “I quit my job. I didn’t even know it was affecting me that much. But it’s significantly lower, to where they cut my medication in half.”