Vendor Spotlight: Samuels Public Library
Last week, Ace and I stopped by Samuels Public Library for a meeting with a client and on our way out, met with the social media coordinator. Before we could say much about Headwaters, the staff thanked us. Having every local event pulled into one place each week helps them too. That's Samuels in a nutshell. It notices the people building community, and it tells them so.
The library is older than most of the town around it. It began in 1799 as the Front Royal Librarian Society, a modest subscription lending library and the second of its kind in Virginia. For more than 150 years it moved from one downtown address to the next.
Then came Dr. Bernard Samuels. He graduated from Randolph-Macon Academy and the University of Virginia, trained as an eye doctor in Vienna and Prague, and spoke several languages. He had no children of his own, so he chose a different legacy. He saw the library as a portal to the world for Warren County, VA. In 1952 he gave Ivy Lodge as its first permanent home, and the library has carried his name ever since.
Today Samuels lives in a bright building on Criser Road that opened in 2009. It is led by Director Erin Rooney, and many readers will recognize her story. Reading did not come easily to her as a child. Then a fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Butler, changed that. Years later, with a history degree from James Madison University and no set plan, Erin took a job at her local library. She stopped seeing it as a place to study and started seeing it as a place for community, learning, and opportunity. She joined Samuels in 2015, shelving books and helping patrons at the circulation desk. She moved through children's services and adult reference and earned her Master of Library Science from the University of North Texas. In February 2024 she became director of the library where she started.
Samuels is a nonprofit, and the community shows up for it. About 100 volunteers give their time every year. The Friends of Samuels Library sponsor free programs. The annual A Taste for Books fundraiser returns in April 2027. In 2024, the Virginia Library Association named Samuels its Library of the Year.
Inside, there is far more than books. Studio 330, the library's makerspace and memory lab, can turn old VHS tapes, slides, and photo negatives into digital files. It also has a sound-dampened booth for recording oral histories and podcasts. Families can join 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten. Readers of every age can take on the America 250th Reading Bingo Challenge, which runs through 2027 alongside Virginia's American Revolution 250 Commission (VA250) celebrations. Free notary service and exam proctoring round out the list.
For an offsite meeting or retreat, Samuels has room to work. Its spaces range from conference rooms for two to eight people to larger rooms for up to 150. Nonprofit groups meeting for cultural, educational, or civic purposes can reserve them at no charge, up to 60 days in advance. For a mission-driven team or a Giveback Getaway, a morning session here puts your group in the middle of one of Warren County, VA's oldest community institutions.
Visit samuelslibrary.net to learn more about Samuels Public Library.
When you are ready to build an offsite meeting or retreat with a story worth telling, make Headwaters your first call.
Headwaters — The Passage | headwatersretreats.com
