Gail Gillard
Gail Gillard began a new role as Director of the Big Horn County Library System on November 1, 2022. The system, serving the more than 11,000 residents of Big Horn County, has its main library in Basin and four branches in Greybull, Lovell, Deaver and Frannie.
Gail moved to Lovell in August of 2021 to be closer to family and began substitute teaching and becoming involved with the library. She holds a Bachelor of Science in secondary education with an emphasis in math and computer science from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. She later took advanced course work in math at East Texas State University and leadership training from the Denver Employers Council.
After college she taught for seven years in Texas and then became an educational consultant for four years. When her daughters were young, she began substitute teaching, which gave her the opportunity to work in a library for the first time. After a move to Colorado, she went to work for Douglas County Libraries, working her way up the ladder from shelver to supervisor.
“That position allowed me to be part of an amazing leadership team,” she said. “Douglas County Libraries circulates over five million physical items annually. I enjoyed working for them for over 14 years and learned a lot about libraries and team work.”
Gail was excited at the opportunity to become the Director of the Big Horn County Library System. “My passion is to build and work with a team. Coaching and bringing out strengths in others is what I enjoy about this position. I look forward to making the library system more visible and involved in the community and to raise awareness of all it has to offer.”
While still adjusting to smaller town life, Gail is amazed at the support from the community. She’s impressed by the willingness to help out when there are challenges or tasks to be handled.
As the new Director, Gail wants to build a cohesive team across all the branches. “I look forward to growing the staff and building collaboration,” she said. “I want them to reach out to each other and work as one library system. The team members can share resources and talents to build a stronger library system.”