Amy Kennedy has overseen a lot of change since taking the helm of Wheeler Library in North Stonington 25 years ago.

When Kennedy first began at the library, in 1991, an offshoot of the school’s home economics department was holding childcare classes in Wheeler’s unfinished basement, and the first floor was being used mostly for shelving.

“It didn’t have the reading room atmosphere” of today, she said.

She marks her 25th year this July, which the library is celebrating with a donation drive.

A graduate of Simmons College with a degree in library science, Kennedy worked first at IBM and then at the library in East Lyme, which had completed a number of modernization initiatives that she said aided her at Wheeler.

When she first arrived, Wheeler’s collection didn’t include movies or audio cassettes, and the building was on the cusp of another difficult renovation project that had frustrated the previous library director.

Slowly the stacks were moved downstairs, freeing up the first floor for sitting and reading. That’s where Amy is most days, behind the circulation desk, occasionally bringing along her yellow lab Sadie, who library patrons have known since a puppy, when she would curl up on a shelf behind the circulation desk.

The upstairs was reorganized in 2011 when shelves were moved aside to make a large community space.

That move is indicative of how the role of libraries has changed in the past 25 years, Kennedy said.

“People don’t need us for the things for the things they needed us for 25 years ago,” she said.

Libraries have become spaces for community events, especially so in North Stonington, which lacks large municipal event spaces.

“We’re really lucky to have this space,” she said. “There are other local libraries that don’t have the physical space … to present programs and events. Because we have a town of 5,000 people (and) over 56 square miles, people are really spread out (and) this is a very easy way for them to come together.”

The cavernous third floor, is the “living room of North Stonington,” said Deb Burnside, who has worked part time at the library for more than 20 years. It plays host to community groups, classes and more recently Wheeler’s new seed library.

Recently, the library began offering “Grab-and-Go” bags — filled with children’s books with themes like poetry, pirates or gardening —that Kennedy says will help out busy parents with young kids.

It’s initiatives like these that make the library a valuable resource to the community, said Burnside.

“Thanks to Amy … if you have an idea, go for it,” Burnside said. “(She’s) open to suggestions.”

And for as long as those ideas keep coming, Kennedy said, she’ll be around.

“As long as I feel like I am contributing and staying up to speed on what libraries can be … I’ll stay,” she said.

n.lynch@theday.com