Rick Ashton, city librarian of the Denver Public Library system for 20 years, announced Thursday that he is retiring early next year.
“I think now I will have time to read a book,” said Ashton, 60, who said he will retire Feb. 28.
Although the library has suffered more than $800,000 in budget cuts over the past two years, Ashton said his decision to retire was not related to that.
The Library Commission will undertake a national search for Ashton’s successor – a process that is expected to take months.
As Ashton is only the eighth Denver city librarian since the library was established in 1889, it is difficult to gauge exactly how long it will take to find his replacement, said library spokeswoman Celeste Jackson.
In the meantime, the commission designated Letty Icolari, the library’s director of human resources, to serve as interim city librarian beginning March 1.
In 1985, when Ashton took the reins at a run-down, cramped Central Library building, more than half of the library’s materials were stored in warehouses.
The library had 2.5 million books checked out that year.
But five years later, Ashton was a major player in a campaign that resulted in 75 percent of the city’s voters approving a $91.6 million bond issue to build a new, 540,000-square-foot Central Library and renovate and build new branch library buildings.
This year, the library expects to have 10 million books checked out.
The library has been ranked first by Hennen’s American Public Library Ratings among big-city libraries for three of the past five years.
It’s his role in making the library more visible and visited by city residents that Ashton lists as his major accomplishment.
“I’m very proud of how the library moved from a marginal position to a central position in the life of the city,” he said.
Staff writer Karen Crummy can be reached at 303-820-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com.
