Curtis Memorial Library Director Liz Doucett to Retire After Nearly 20 Years

Liz Doucett arrived at Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick in 2007 as a relative newcomer to librarianship, a former marketer who had returned to school, earned a library degree, and worked as an assistant director in Massachusetts before landing the top job. She leaves this July with an endowment that has grown past $8 million, a nationally recognized Library of Things, an electric vehicle bookmobile, and a Sustainable Library Initiative certification.

Doucett announced her retirement last week after nearly 20 years leading the institution. Her departure sets up the library board, led by president Tahnthawan Coffin, to conduct a director search for only the second time in two decades.

"I walked in the door and fell in love with the place," Doucett said of her first days in Brunswick. That connection sustained her through some of the most disruptive periods in the library's recent history: the 2008 recession, the closure of Brunswick Naval Air Station, the COVID-19 pandemic, and repeated fluctuations in federal library funding.

Coffin credited Doucett's steady leadership through those disruptions, citing the library's signature programs and strengthened endowment as evidence of lasting institutional health.

The Library of Things, which loans non-book items to cardholders, drew national recognition as an early model for the concept. The EV bookmobile extended Curtis Memorial's reach into surrounding communities. Both reflect the philosophy that defined Doucett's tenure: the library as a civic resource extending well beyond its shelves.

Her unconventional path to the directorship began in marketing. She left that field in the early 2000s, completed library school, and served as an assistant director in Massachusetts before coming to Brunswick. That background in audience-building and program development shaped an approach defined as much by community engagement as by collections management.

The endowment crossing $8 million gives Curtis Memorial meaningful financial stability against the budget pressures that have squeezed public libraries across Maine. The board will now move toward formalizing a leadership search with Doucett's July departure as the deadline; whoever Coffin and her colleagues select will inherit both that foundation and the programmatic expectations built over nearly two decades.