Mary Spore-Alhadef is a distinguished member of her field and community, having accrued 53 wonderful years of librarianship throughout Massachusetts and California. During her undergraduate studies at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, in the early 1960s, Ms. Spore-Alhadef cultivated her interest in history by taking classes in the School of Education. In these integral years of her life, she spent significant time in the Boston College libraries, thus discovering her love for librarianship. Upon graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1965, she attended Peabody College, earning a Master of Library Science in 1966.
After receiving a library degree, Ms. Spore-Alhadef returned to Boston College to serve as the assistant director of libraries, a role she held for two years. Soon employed by the Weston College School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she served as a librarian from 1968 to 1973 before relocating to California. From 1973 to 1976, she was a librarian at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, having thereafter held the role of reference librarian at the Graduate Theological Union Library in Berkeley for the following year. During the latter stages of her career, Ms. Spore-Alhadef served the Redwood City Public Library, where she was an audiovisual librarian from 1978 to 2006 and general reference, local history and archives librarian from 2006 until her retirement in 2019.
Alongside these appointments, Ms. Spore-Alhadef has been a board member of the archives and local history committee of the Redwood City Public Library since 2019 and is a former 40-year member of the American Theological Library Association in Chicago. Demonstrating versatility in her profession, she also authored chapters in the books “150th Anniversary Book” and “Redwood City: A Hometown History.” Among the notable highlights of her career, Ms. Spore-Alhadef recalls taking over the Seminary Library to be a crowning achievement. She helped the library move the collection into Cambridge from its previous location in the country. She has also always enjoyed working with each individual library’s challenges, noting that there were always opportunities for education and growth. She is proud that she was able to adapt to all situations and complete her job with grace and satisfaction.
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