Ending a storied career

CHANNAHON — Many who have known Three Rivers Public Library Director Erik Blomstedt in his library position might not know about some of his other adventures.

The ship that brought him and his family to America from their native Sweden in 1956 collided with and sank the S.S. Andrea Doria shortly after his family de-boarded.

Blomstedt also served as an interrogator and interpreter during the Vietnam conflict and later worked in a prison as a librarian to inmates.

It’s been an interesting life, said Blomstedt, who will be closing the latest chapter when he retires after more than 32 years with the Three Rivers Public Library.

All those who have appreciated the services he has provided are invited to wish him well during a retirement open house from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Channahon branch of the library on Channon Drive.

“I have enjoyed every minute of it here,” Blomstedt said, “but it’s time for new blood, new ideas, and new vision.”

The Blomstedts came to settle in the U.S. a year after Erik’s father established himself as a carpenter in Chicago. Erik, then 9 years old, said he knew only five words of English on his arrival – yes, no, red, airplane, and apple. His cousin had taught him those while in Sweden.

After the Blomstedts came across the Atlantic in the MS Stockholm, the ship collided on its return trip with the well-known Italian ocean liner, the SS Andrea Doria, off the coast of Nantucket. The collision was one of history’s most famous maritime disasters.

Thankfully, Blomstedt and his family were already safely on U.S. soil by then. The young boy quickly picked up the English language and continued his love of reading as he grew up. It was mostly non-fiction he read back then, as it still is today.

After high school, Blom-stedt went to college with the goal of becoming a special education teacher. He majored in psychology at Northeastern University, which was then called Illinois Teachers College.
After his first experience working with children, though, at Chicago State Hospital, he changed his mind about a teaching career.

“I found I had very little patience,” he said.

His second choice for a career was as a librarian, so he finished up his undergraduate degree and went on to earn a master’s degree in library science from the University of Illinois in Champaign.

Blomstedt also served in the Vietnam conflict as an interrogator and interpreter with the U. S. Army 101st Airborne. He served from 1969 to 1972, earning a Bronze Star.

Blomstedt’s first library job was in the business and social science department at the Chicago Public Library. From there, he took a job as a librarian at the Cook County Jail for two years. That was an interesting experience, he said.

“A carry-back from working at the jail was that I learned never to judge a guy on what he read or didn’t read,” Blomstedt said.

Inmates there would read magazines and paperbacks and “a lot of light recreational reading,” but mostly they were interested in the library’s law collection. The Supreme Court ruled there must be law libraries in jails and prisons of a certain size.

Blomstedt had five staff members there, all ex-cons. He also worked with a 40-year-old inmate who was the library’s “lawyer-inmate,” helping fellow inmates with their legal needs.

Blomstedt said that, during his two years there, there was never an altercation in the library. Inmates would ask him for favors now and then, such as to mail a letter for them, but Blomstedt stuck by the rules and the inmates understood.

When he heard there was a position opening for a library director in Channahon, it sounded perfect to him. Channahon was a small, friendly community with a one-year-old library district. He remembers being interviewed by two members of the library board of trustees, Joan Ferguson and Jim Satorius, who still sit on the board today.

The district’s first library director was Kristin Nimmo.

Blomstedt got the job and he; his wife, Lily; and their baby, James, made the move to Channahon in 1977. Daughter Jennifer was born the following year.

Three Rivers Library initially was a 1,200-square-foot building on the corner of Tryon Street and U.S. 6. Barb Lewis was the children’s librarian, Eve Larson was his first hire as adult services librarian and “Jack of all trades,” and Kay Betzwiser, his second hire, became children’s librarian.

The current library in Channahon was built in 1981, and a Minooka branch opened in 1992.

Blomstedt was never a snob about the library’s circulation. In addition to hardbacks, the library always had paperbacks, too, which many librarians at that time disavowed. The library eventually carried Atari game cartridges, then VHS movies.

In the mid-’80s came automation. It took staff two years to enter the library’s database on its new computers, but when it was all done, it saved librarians about two hours a day they formerly used to file cards.

Today, people still come in for books, but Internet usage has skyrocketed the past couple of years, especially lately as they search for jobs or work on resumes. The economy has brought more people in to check out books, too, Blomstedt said, as many decide it’s not a good time to purchase books.

Kids are still reading today, too, he said, even with the proliferation of home video games and computers.

"Look at Twilight," he said of the popular teen vampire series. "They come here to refuel their supply."
Blomstedt said he has wonderful memories of patrons and staff.

“I’ve enjoyed public librarianship,” he said. “We’ve had some wonderful and delightful people come in, and I’ve enjoyed that throughout the years.”

Blomstedt said he sometimes thinks of librarians as bartenders of books.

“Patrons come in and you say to them, ‘What’ll you have?’” he said. “They will also tell you their stories easier than they would to someone they know.”

Blomstedt said the library will do well under new director Mary Soucie.

“She’s got a great board, a wonderful staff, and I see even bigger and brighter things ahead under her direction.”

Blomstedt said he already has an Alaskan trip planned for this summer and then hopes he can volunteer or work at “some menial job. Something totally different.”

Those wanting to say goodbye to Blomstedt and welcome Soucie to the district can do so at his retirement open house Saturday. The day has been declared as “Erik Blomstedt Day” by the villages of Channahon and Minooka.