Melissa Chapman became interim director of the Blue Ridge Regional Library system following the retirement of director Rick Ward in July. Chapman said she is unsure how long she will serve in the role. The system’s board will advertise, interview, and hire a new permanent director.

“I just think of myself as a placeholder for whoever comes after, and making sure that the ship stays straight and upright,” she said.
Despite the temporary nature of her appointment, Chapman has goals she hopes to accomplish, including tightening collection development policies.
“I’d like to see if I could start working on letting people know everything that we have and advocating” for the libraries “because I think many people don’t know what kind of resources we have. We have databases that could help students with their homework, and we have all of these programs that people can take advantage of — and most of them are free of charge,” she said.
Chapman holds a master’s degree in library science from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she worked in the special collections department as a student. After graduating, she worked at Matthews Public Library as its adult services librarian.