BY KADIE VICK
FOR THE OBSERVER
OPELIKA — Anita Burton, a cherished member of the Opelika Public Library (OPL) staff for the past 35 years, is retiring this month. With her upcoming retirement, she is reflecting on the time she spent investing in the community and the joy she has had doing so.
“I just love books. I love reading. I love working here. It’s been a really good experience for me coming here because I just came as a person transferring from a different department and knew nothing about libraries,” she said. “Of course, I went to libraries as a kid but knew nothing about them. I came in and learned everything I could possibly think of and did every job here at this library so I would know in case somebody couldn’t come in and do it.”
Burton began her professional career working as a communications operator at the Opelika Police Station and did not enjoy the loud, fast-paced environment there. So when a position became available at the OPL she took it.
“My position now [at the OPL] is Patron Services Specialist. I started in 1988 at the police department as a communications operator. And I worked there for about a year and I decided that I did not want to be a part of fighting criminals. I wanted to be a part of reading about criminals because I love true crime,” she said.
She said the most rewarding aspect of working at the OPL for so long is seeing children grow up and bring in their own children to enjoy the books and programs offered.
“I know just about everybody that comes to the library, not only the person but I know their mother and their grandmother because I’ve been here so long,” she said. “But the thing that gives me the greatest joy is to see the people come in with the babies that I’ve seen as babies.”
In 2021 Burton became the OPL’s adult specialist, creating programs to engage and educate adults. Some of the programs she started include cooking programs, dancercise classes, skin and beauty classes for older women, sign language and Spanish classes, and a taste of Opelika event.
She said, “I’ve always wanted to have programs geared to the older people because like I said they’re the people that are here that are during the daytime they have nothing to do so I’ve always had a passion to to come up with programs for senior citizens or older not just senior citizens, young adult older adults but mostly older adults.”
One of Burton’s most cherished and enjoyed programs is her weekly dancercise classes. When she began them she had been taking Zumba classes and realized how great a similar opportunity would be for local women to promote exercise and fun.
“I thought well if I like to dance and I’ve got some older ladies that need to exercise. Let me see if I can get them to dance with me. I started in January, but nobody came and I said by the end of February, if nobody comes, I’m not going to do it. This would be a fail. Well, the last day of my day of exercise class. Two people showed up,” she said, smiling.
Since then her dancercise class has grown to 35 participants. Burton said she has seen her students grow in confidence and become a family through this weekly event.
Burton said even after retirement she will continue to lead the dancercise class, “The girls, the ladies that come to me. It’s not just to dance but we do everything we celebrate birthdays, we celebrate that spring is coming. We celebrate Mother’s Day. It’s just like a big family. So, I will continue to dance.”
After retirement, Burton said she is going to spend her time traveling and with family. She said her mother taught her that, “You never know when you’re entertaining an angel, treat everyone the same.”
She said.“And I’ve made that my motto. I make sure no matter what, I hug everyone, probably when I shouldn’t. But I do because you never know when somebody needs one. I try to treat everybody the same and give them the same respect.”
