Seattle's chief librarian is moving on: What will he remember, and be remembered for?

The Seattle Public Library’s celebrated chief librarian is about to leave a big hole in the community.

Marcellus Turner has served the library for a decade, earning accolades for expanding technology and digital services, especially during the pandemic.

He's leaving Seattle to take over duties at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library in North Carolina next month. But first, he's reflecting on the time he's spent working to improve his library system's 27 branches.

"We've been working on being the most socially conscious library and equity-based library since I've been here," he said.

Turner hopes his legacy is one of equity for all library visitors; his tenure brought an end to library fines that once barred people from accessing books and services, and he successfully led two successful levy campaigns.

Also under his stewardship, the Seattle Public Library was named the 2020 Library of the Year by the Gale/Library Journal.

The award recognized work done during the pandemic, but Turner says it was also an acknowledgement of the values he has espoused for years.

"We've been working on this all along," he said.

He didn't exactly dream of becoming a chief librarian as a young bookworm - a title he embraces - but he did work in libraries as early as the fourth grade.

"I just found a certificate from fourth grade awarding me for working in the library as a library assistant," he says, noting he found his start there even if he wasn't paid at the time.

That was in Mississippi. He later received his Master’s degree in library science from the University of Tennessee.

Since then, Turner has worked with libraries in Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Louisiana, as well as Tacoma prior to Seattle.

But 2020 brought challenges unlike any he'd faced throughout his storied career, in large part because of the pandemic.

But in his 2021 New Year message, he also noted the "shocking incidents of race-based violence" that led to protests for racial equity and justice. As a Black man, the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and cases of police violence affected him personally and professionally.

"You don't go through all of these years of work at Seattle Public Library, where you've been focusing on equity and trying to address social consciousness and the issues that our city faces, and not take that topic up with your staff," Turner said.