Honoring life of Pat Hillmer

If you've visited the Tiffin-Seneca Public Library, there are display cases located throughout the facility that were in honor of Patricia "Pat" Hillmer, who was the former Library Director of Tiffin-Seneca Public Library from 1981-2008. According to information provided by the library, Hillmer was a native of the Cotswold region of England who spent her early adult life as a governess in New South Wales, Australia, and eventually settled in Tiffin with her husband after he started teaching at Heidelberg (College) University in the 1960s. From there, Hillmer earned a bachelor of arts in 1976 and master's of library science from the University of Michigan in 1978. Hillmer started out as head of reference at T-SPL in 1980. During her time there, she established both the Friends of the Library and the Tiffin-Seneca Library Foundation. Many of the changes the library undertook regarding technology were also done under Hillmer's leadership. This included the automation of collection databases, which made card catalogs obsolete. Hillmer was honored by the library board of trustees with the Ohio Library of the Year award in 2004. "I simply represent many librarians who understand from the huge downtown city library to the smallest village branch, the public library is to be safeguarded as the heart of its community – it's a gathering place ...," Hillmer had said during the ceremony. "What a gift that is! We have something extraordinary here in Ohio." Hillmer was an active member of the League of Women Voters and the first female president of the Rotary Club of Tiffin. She passed away on June 23, 2019. The cases will be used to feature a different collection each quarter. If you have a collection with local historical or cultural significance that you would like to see displayed in these cases, please contact Library director Matthew Ross (rossma@tiffinsenecalibrary.org) for consideration. If the collection would be a good fit, Jennifer Aloisi, technical services librarian (Digitization) will reach out to you. Additionally, if you have items you think would be the perfect fit to be digitized into the Seneca County Public Library for 24/7 digital access to the public, contact Emily Rinaman, technical services manager, at 419-447-3751 or rinamaem@tiffinsenecalibrary.org.