Meet Nicki

"My name is Nicki and I am the Library Director. I was hired in 2009 after working as either a Branch Manager or Library Director in several other libraries: Rappahannock County, Loudoun County and Rockingham Regional (now the Massanutten Regional Library). I love libraries and have worked in libraries for close to thirty years.

My former occupations include a Firetower Operator on Carter Mountain in Albemarle County and Artist in Residence in Nelson County, Virginia. There I supervised the building of foot trails and walking bridges in the Crabtree Falls State Park along with the Neighborhood Youth Corp children, taught Art in all the Nelson County public schools and painted many murals in the schools before going back and finishing both of my College degrees. I traveled from Browntown to the University of Maryland four days a week for over a year, before moving to Berryville to be closer to Graduate School, finishing with a Masters in Library Science.

I love working at Samuels Library because we have such a great group of employees, volunteers and Library Board members on both the Library, and the Friends Boards. We are so lucky to have such great folks both working here, and visiting the Library. The people that come into the Library tend to be wanting to learn something new, and are often the most fun and interesting people to talk to about anything. If I could just get paid to chat all day with everyone that comes in, I would have my dream job. But it is close."

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Library Board

The annual meeting of the Library Board of Trustees takes place at 5:30 p.m. on the 2nd Monday of July. During the remainder of the year, Board Meetings take place on the 2nd Monday of September, November, January, March, and May at 5:30 p.m. All Library Board Meetings are open to the public.

Dr. Charles Huber	President
Kim Emerson	Vice President
Pete Walker	Treasurer
Denise Nassetta	Secretary
Tom Wilkins	Member at Large
Brian Barbour
Brian Bennett
Celeste Brooks
Katie Carr
Patrick Farris
Susan Hrbek
Mike Richards
Tom Sayre	Warren County Board of Supervisors Representative
Barbara Way

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Our History

For more than two centuries, Front Royal has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to providing public access to literature and learning. The Front Royal Librarian Society was the second subscription library in the state of Virginia, and received its charter on January 18th, 1799.

On March 19th, 1836 the General Assembly passed an act which incorporated the Front Royal Library Society in the County of Warren. Throughout the next century, the Library struggled and persevered through war and depression.

In 1952 Dr. Bernard Samuels donated a building to house the Library. This generosity was acknowledged through the renaming of the Library.

Samuels Public Library was born.

Walter Samuels followed in his brother's path, when upon his death in 1976, he left a large bequest to the Library. This commitment enabled the Library to build a new and modern facility which opened to the public in 1980. With continued community growth, it became apparent early in the 21st century that it was once again time to build a new, better, more modern Library for the citizens of Front Royal and Warren County. The Warren County Board of Supervisors funded the building project, and on June 10th, 2009 the new Samuels Public Library opened its doors to our community.

​Through the commitment and vision of individuals, government and community, Front Royal and Warren County has continued the vision of our 18th century forefathers to provide for all residents the ability to embrace books and knowledge.