Tricia Ford's Recognition of Service
Prior joining the Truro Library as Director in 2012, Tricia served as the Assistant Director for the Eastham Library. Throughout her tenure she has brought creativity and a community-minded approach to the role.
She launched the department’s first Facebook page in 2013, entering the library into the social media world that would later expand to YouTube tutorials, a podcast that started in 2020, and even a TikTok account. In 2015, Truro posted a photo of an October pumpkin featuring Lego people in a replica mini-library that boasted an impressive 3.5m views—the town’s most viral post ever!
She has introduced fabulous programs over the years, including the popular Saturday Winter Music Series, Trivia Nights, Lego children’s programming, and a beloved Annual Halloween event. She worked with the Friends of the Truro Library to bring many popular programs and series to the library, including author events, an annual State of the Town with the Town Manager, the Holiday Angel Tree, various film series, and talks from local scientists, geologists, historians, attorneys, etc.
Under Tricia’s leadership, the library introduced Cape Cod’s first Seed Library, and in 2019 introduced the Library of Things. In 2020, she worked with the Library Trustees to implement fine forgiveness. Throughout her time with the Town, circulation increased, and she increased the availability of e-materials.
When the Pamet River flooding occurred, deeming Truro Town Center unfit, Tricia and the library welcomed the Concert Committee’s Summer Concert Series to the back deck of the library on Thursday evenings, demonstrating her ability to be flexible and collaborative with various community groups. On other projects and programs, she collaborated with AmeriCorps, SustainableCAPE, the Recreation Department, Cape Abilities, Project Bread, and the Climate Action Committee, to name just a few.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, Tricia provided leadership to her department—creating a new staffing plan for safety and devising new concepts for services. Her creativity allowed the library to offer services six days a week to our citizens to help alleviate the loneliness and need for educational and work support while they sheltered at home. The library offered curbside pickup, a virtual summer reading program, craft kits, online programs, and a host of other creative ways to deliver services until doors reopened in 2021.
Tricia worked with the Board of Library Trustees to create two strategic plans during her tenure: a process in FY2016 that planned for 2017-2022 and the most recent process that began in 2022 that recently wrapped up.
Tricia and her team secured Massachusetts’ Board of Library Commissioners’ grants, a CPC grant, and Cultural Council grants, including grants for a implementing a series of programs, presenting a science-based musical puppet show, and securing hotspots for patron use, as well as building the mud kitchen on library grounds. Tricia has expanded the library to beyond the walls of the building, encouraging programming on the deck and in the Children’s Community Garden, and creating edible gardens.
Under Tricia’s leadership the library received the first-ever Star Library Award from the American Library Association (one of 251 libraries nationwide) in 2015. The library received a 4 out of 5-star rating from the ALA in 2015 and 2016 and a 5-star designation from the Library Journal Index of Public Library Service in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021.
Staff and the community will miss Tricia’s presence at the library, but her legacy will live on through the personal connections she made, the warm, welcoming atmosphere she fostered, the bar she set for excellent programming and services, and wonderful staff she helped develop and grow. We hope she will not be a stranger in Truro, and we thank her for her 12 years of service.