After 15 years of service, Serenity Richards, head librarian at the Albert Carlton-Cashiers Community Library, announced her resignation on Tuesday, Jan. 13. She stepped down from the role effective Jan. 22.
Under her leadership, the library has grown into a vital community hub, providing accessible information across multiple platforms and creating a welcoming environment for all.
Richards worked with the Friends of the Albert Carlton-Cashiers Community Library to establish a bookstore within the library, offering a large, well-organized selection of books in all genres. She also expanded children’s and adult programming, transforming them from weekly offerings into daily events.
“Through the busy season, like during the summer, there’s always something going on,” Richards said. “And in the off-season, like this week, we’ve got four programs running. They’re more intimate programs, such as story times for three or four kids who are out of school, so we’ve really filled that void when there’s nothing going on.”
While she received support from local organizations, community members, and donors, Richards said disagreements and tension with political appointees to the Fontana Regional Library System’s governing board, along with harassment from certain individuals, led her to resign.
“I feel that the political appointees to the Fontana Governing Board are extremely toxic to work for,” Richards said. “They try to micromanage everything, and just the toxicity that they put into the library system and onto the staff is unsustainable.”
Library personnel matters are not within the board’s jurisdiction, so it was unable to comment on her resignation. However, FRL Director Tracy Fitzmaurice, who is responsible for employing library staff, expressed gratitude for Richards’ tenure as head librarian.
“It’s a huge loss for FRL, Cashiers and the library,” Fitzmaurice said. “It’ll be very hard to find someone to replace her, as she put 15 years into the community.”
Richards said she experienced increasingly uncomfortable interactions with people who opposed her decisions, including verbal abuse and blackmail. These encounters eventually took a toll on her mental health.
“The first time somebody came up to me and called me a pedophile, that was definitely a moment where I was like, ‘Do I really want to continue to do this?’” she said.
Her decision comes amid the Jackson County Board of Commissioners’ vote to leave the Fontana Regional Library System on June 24, 2025. Jackson County aims to have more control over library policy.
“When you have elected representatives and appointed political partisans that refuse to listen to the majority of the community, and the majority of the communications that they are getting from the community, there’s only so much you can do,” Richards said.
Richards said she received support from some members of the Cashiers community, including messages and phone calls expressing solidarity.
“I love this community and apparently this community loves me,” Richards said. “I find it very humbling because I’ve been trying to do what’s right by my people, so to know that I apparently have, in some ways, makes this slightly less awful, but also slightly more awful, knowing that I have been doing good work.”
While her chapter at the library has come to a close, Richards still plans to remain active in the community. She will continue to serve on several boards, including the Literary Council of Cashiers, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Macon and Jackson counties, and the Cashiers Area Chamber of Commerce Board.
- Mitch Stone
reporter@highlandsnews.com