Nate Coulter Announces Retirement from CALS

As I entered the newly renovated Main Library the other day, I greeted several friends gathered in the Boulevard Bread location on the first floor to discuss a project at their church. After I got my coffee, I headed to a meeting upstairs. On the way, I ran into a group of 5th graders on a field trip. They were surrounded by inspiring art purchased recently with a Windgate grant. As I walked on, I passed by a room full of people waiting to receive free help filing their income taxes. Before I stepped into my meeting, I paused and looked back to take it in again. “What an extraordinary time to be a patron, supporter, or employee of the Central Arkansas Library System,” I thought to myself!

Indeed, I relish the opportunity to lead this library now more than ever. I have been thrilled by the challenge of leading CALS for the last ten years. And I am deeply grateful to our more than 300 employees who over that decade navigated a pandemic, painful political rhetoric about libraries and librarians, and a massive $31 million construction project. I’m also grateful to the taxpayers and donors whose abiding commitment to CALS has fueled our progress and will ensure it continues.

Seeing folks getting help with their taxes at the library reminds me of the different seasons we experience—tax season, the changing seasons of the year, and the seasons in our own lives. Ecclesiastes tells us there is a season for all things. And even with the joy I feel working in a library every day, I have concluded that later in 2026 should mark the end of my CALS season.

Three factors make this the right time for me to yield the privilege of leading CALS to a successor: (1) the library’s current financial stability and widespread community support; (2) the strength and talent of our current board and library leadership staff; and (3) my personal eagerness to apply some of what I have learned from my varied career experiences to other endeavors.

My intention is to leave CALS sometime around October 1 of this year. I will work closely with the Board of Directors to pinpoint the precise date for my departure so we can ensure a thorough hiring process and an orderly transition.

It has been a unique honor to lead one of the finest public library systems in America and to work alongside the people who make that possible every day. I am reminded of this often by patrons who tell me how pleased they were to discover, after moving to central Arkansas, that our libraries rival—and often surpass—those in other regions.

As I look ahead to the end of this chapter of my career and anticipate the next one, I reflect with gratitude and satisfaction on what CALS has been able to achieve over the past decade. Because I have seen and heard how transformative libraries have been for so many people, I am particularly proud that much of what we have accomplished during my tenure at CALS has centered on serving people from across communities and income levels. This has often been possible only through collaborative efforts we have initiated with other organizations to deliver services and materials to our patrons. As an example, our partner AARP was assisting those taxpayers I saw waiting at the library for help with their returns.

We hired full-time social workers to assist patrons and staff, and coordinate with businesses, health providers, law enforcement, and city leaders to secure more resources for unhoused residents. In partnership with the city, we formed Be Mighty to oversee the distribution of hundreds of thousands of USDA meals to students. In support of public, private, charter, and home schools, we distribute approximately 50,000 Tech Cards annually to give students access to our vast array of digital resources that can boost their learning and nurture their minds. In 2020, partnering with a donor, we launched Count Up, which now provides almost 100 students access each semester with one-on-one math tutoring. With a local non-profit we developed the Rock It! Lab to mentor aspiring entrepreneurs.

In a pair of millage elections in 2021 and 2022, voters overwhelmingly allowed us to increase staff pay, buy more books and a bookmobile, and renovate the Main Library—all without any net tax increase. More operating revenue allowed CALS to commit a reliable stream of funding for print and digital books. One consequence of this investment was evident in a recent survey of larger libraries across the country indicating CALS has one of the shortest average waiting times for popular eBooks and audiobooks.

We have also developed a much broader base of foundation and individual philanthropy for CALS. This support has helped us acquire art from local artists for our renovated library and launch initiatives like Count Up. Our successful capital campaign in support of the renovation of Main was the first of its kind at CALS. It set a precedent for future opportunities and established new and stronger relationships with many generous supporters who love their library.

In 2023, we responded to political challenges to our critical role in safeguarding intellectual freedom. Thus far, the federal court has agreed with CALS, and we continue to provide access to a diverse collection of stories serving everyone in our community.

The two strategic planning exercises we conducted during my tenure were the first since the 1980s. Despite the pandemic, we achieved most of the strategic goals set out in the plan adopted in 2019—including hiring outreach librarians to better connect with Black and Latino Arkansans. Our most recent strategic plan, adopted in 2025, sets four goals to guide us through the next five years: raising awareness of all the library offers; enhancing our relationships with those we serve; combating the loneliness and isolation many of our patrons may be experiencing; and achieving organizational excellence.

One story from last week illustrates progress toward these goals. We recently began offering monthly tours of the Main Library. Following the March tour, one person asked if CALS would give her email address to another person she had met on the tour. We passed along the email, and the second patron was eager to have it. These two women, once strangers, are now connected to each other through a chance encounter at their library.

I will be here for seven more months to address matters such as the escalating costs of eBooks, the inevitable impact of AI on libraries and our democracy, and the ongoing housing shortage that means more people coming to the library with unmet basic needs. These challenges and others will not go away when I do, but I am confident that CALS will rise to new heights under new leadership.

A month or so after we reopened the renovated library, my son asked me to drop off my 3-year-old grandson at daycare one morning. He was sad about having to go to school, so I suggested that we visit the library before going to daycare. He liked that idea and perked up to tell me excitedly, “They have a big ice cream truck there.” I thought, “Uh, sure, whatever. Must have been an ice cream truck outside when he visited last time?”

Turns out, thanks to an earlier visit with his parents, James Coulter knew better than I did what was inside the Garth and Joann Martin Children’s Center at the library. He made a beeline for the large toy ice cream truck and took up his position behind the serving window to ask what flavor ice cream I wanted. After a little while of enjoying my “ice cream,” we checked out some books and headed out to daycare. He was much happier about that destination than when the morning started. I can attest that library visits can have that effect on grownups, too.

Ecclesiastes says there is a season to embrace, and a season to refrain from embracing. Even though the season for me to lead CALS will wind down later this year, I can’t imagine ever getting to a season in my life where I don’t embrace libraries, especially this uniquely wonderful one where I have had the chance to be a part of its noble mission since 2016.

Look for me at the ice cream truck with James and his brother, or up on the new rooftop with a good book.

Nate Coulter
Executive Director