Director Tess Mayer Announces Departure After Five Years of Service
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Aimee Reeder
Communications Manager
Berkeley Public Library
510.495.4175
areeder@berkeleyca.gov
Berkeley, California (July 10, 2025) – In last night’s July regular meeting of the Board of Library Trustees (BOLT), Director of Library Services, Tess Mayer, announced that she is planning to leave the Berkeley Public Library later this summer. The Trustees thanked her for her outstanding leadership and service to the community and staff since September 2020.
BOLT also appointed the Library’s current Deputy Director, Henry Bankhead, as Acting Director of Library Services effective August 17, 2025, and created an Ad Hoc BOLT Subcommittee to begin the recruitment for the next Library Director. President of the BOLT, Beverly Greene, and Vice-President of the BOLT, Tanir Ami, will serve on this subcommittee.
“We appreciate Director Mayer’s dedicated and effective leadership over the past five years, and the strength and stability she has brought to this organization,” says President Greene. “The Library has adopted and begun implementing a four-year strategic plan, a five-year tech improvement roadmap program and a capital improvement plan. In addition, sustainable funding is secure with 78% of the Berkeley community passing Measure X in Fall 2024. We anticipate a smooth upcoming leadership transition and are very optimistic about the future of the Berkeley Public Library!”
Mayer’s tenure at the Library has been distinguished by significant process and structural improvements along with the implementation of sustainable staffing and service approaches. Investments in capacity and safety have been made through extensive staff trainings. The Central Library Improvement Project was completed and capital projects at branches and at Central were initiated. Sunday hours were restored. Department-wide racial equity training and planning work was instituted. Mayer partnered with the BOLT to recruit and onboard four new Trustees, adopted new and revised Library policies plus bylaws, and brought back an in-person annual reporting process to City Council.
“I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such a fantastic staff, leadership team, and BOLT plus the Berkeley Public Library Foundation and the Friends of the Berkeley Public Library,” says Director Mayer. “The creativity and care with which our library community approaches public service is an inspiration! While I will miss this place and these people, I am heartened by how much we’ve been able to achieve.”
For more information and press inquiries, please contact Aimee Reeder, Communications Manager, at (510) 495-4175 or areeder@berkeleyca.gov.
For general questions about Library events, services, hours and locations, please visit the Library’s website www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org.
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