Mid-Columbia librarian retiring after four decades helping people search for answers

Tom Moak didn’t plan on a 41-year career as a librarian when he finished college.

He wanted to be a Spanish teacher, but he wasn’t able to find a position after graduation. So he started working in a Tacoma library and was hooked.

“I decided to go back and get my master’s,” he said. “I love to find answers. I thought that sounds kind of cool.”

Now, the longtime Mid-Columbia Libraries branch manager and former Kennewick councilman is wrapping up a decades-long career in Tri-Cities libraries.

His started with the Mid-Columbia library system in 1979 as the head reference librarian at what is now the Keewaydin Park branch in downtown Kennewick.

At the time before Internet searches and online databases, the reference librarian hunted down information for people.

The challenge and variety of the task kept him engaged through the decades. Now he said the speed and accuracy that he can do his job with computers seems almost limitless but even wider ranging.

“It’s a new challenge every day,” he said.

When the new library opened on Kennewick’s Union Street in 1999, he became the branch manager. Then, he moved to West Richland in 2016 and saw a big jump in activity at that branch three years later following a major remodeling.

Mid-Columbia Libraries’ Executive Director Kyle Cox said they are thankful for Moak’s commitment, community focus and zeal for knowledge.

“Tom’s mark on life in the Mid-Columbia can be seen within our libraries and in so many other organizations,” Cox said. “He is the personification of a life lived in service, believing life can be made better through effort and intention.”

While Moak is leaving the library system, he remains involved in the community, serving as an elected Port of Kennewick commissioner and as president of the Kennewick Housing Authority and the Benton-Franklin-Walla Walla Good Roads and Transportation Association. He also is vice president of his local Kiwanis Club.

“I don’t think I’ll be bored,” he said. “It’s a good time to look afresh at things.”

Moak served 12 years on the Kennewick City Council and was briefly appointed as a state representative for the 8th Legislative District. He also has been president of the East Benton County Historical Society.

“If you’re doing things that you feel are rewarding for you and the community, you keep doing them,” he said.