Melissa Carr has called the Daniel Boone Regional Library home for more than 40 years. Starting with a position in the Circulation Department, she then moved to Public Services and earned her MLS from the University of Missouri, Columbia. During her tenure at DBRL she has worked as a reference librarian, performed staff training, overseen the Public Services Department and led the library through the strategic planning process. After 23 years in positions of increasing responsibility, in 1996 she was named Director of DBRL.
As the director, she manages the library services of the Boone County, Callaway County, and Columbia Library Districts, including three facilities and two bookmobiles, 190 employees and an $9.2 million regional budget. She works in conjunction with DBRL's 19-member Board of Trustees as they set policies and guide the direction of the library. Melissa also acts as an advocate for library services and literacy in the community, working closely with the DBRL Foundation [1] and the Friends of the Library groups, as well as serving as a member of the Missouri Secretary of State's Council on Library Development, the Columbia Chamber of Commerce Education Committee, the United Way [2], the Missouri Library Association [3], the American Library Association [4] and other organizations.