If you have used any of the services offered at any one of the branches that are part of the system operated by the Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County during the last several decades, you have been touched by the efforts of Alan Hall.

Hall, who died Sept. 12 at the age of 71, served a the director of the system for nearly 40 years before his retirement. And even after Mike Gray, who worked as his assistant for 16 years, moved into the director’s spot, Hall continued to share his insights and talents with the staff as director emeritus.

He could often be found helping out in any of several different ways. And that really wasn’t any different from when he was working full time.

“Alan was dedicated and passionate about the library,” remembered Sandy Day, who retired after a long career of her own at the library.

“He worked the weekdays and then on Saturdays. I think he just liked being there in the building. During construction on the Main Library to make it handicap accessible, Alan and I were together in the mornings.

“He would share stories about how he started out working in the library at his high school,” she continued. “He truly believed in and loved what he did for a living.”

That project at the Main Library on Fourth Street in Steubenville was massive. When it was completed in the spring of 2019, it brought the facility into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

That made it the last public library in the state to get that status.

Constructed at a cost of about $4 million, the two-story, 10,000-square-foot addition, which was built on the back on the original building, which was built in 1902, included study rooms, a community room and an elevator, as well as new ground-level entrance on Slack Street.

All of that work necessitated that the main building had to be closed for 16 months.

Making sure the library was accessible to everyone was important to Hall — and sharing those stories and anecdotes were perfect examples of the personal touch he attached to every detail, from meeting a person who visited the library to helping those who called in with a question.

“Alan always wanted library phones to be answered by a real person — no recordings,” remembered Sandi Thompson, director of the Puskarich Public Library System, which is based in Cadiz. “He wanted the service to be personal and personable — something we still do based on his advice in our library today. Our library system is better because of Hall.”

Hall was assigned by the Ohio Library Council to serve as Thompson’s mentor when she was named the Puskarich system’s director in 1998. She remembered that he always took the time to answer the numerous questions she had. His knowledge — and the willingness to share it — were important to her.

“Alan was a keeper of history,” she explained.

“He was the one who kept all of the stories and knew exactly how everything started, from the building of the Carnegie libraries throughout Ohio to the start of the SEO consortium in Southeast Ohio, he could share the details — the names, dates and places — all from memory,” she added.

“He was the library professional who we all aspire to be, carefully curating collections, impeccably cataloging items, making book repair an art form — yet visionary and practical, forever prioritizing public service above all else.”

A well-run library is a true asset to the community it serves. And, no matter how many books it can make available, how many connections to the internet it can share, how much research it can offer or how many things that can be checked out, a library — like everything else — can only be as good as the people who make it all come together. And what makes the libraries in Steubenville, Jefferson and Harrison counties and across the state special is that countless numbers of those people had the chance to learn from and work with Hall.

“I know that many libraries throughout the state have the ‘Hall-mark,'” Thompson added. “That’s his distinct and indelible advice etched into everyday services — the lasting effect of an Ohio library legend, Alan C. Hall.”

(Gallabrese, a resident of Steubenville, is executive editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times.)