Lifelong library story comes full circle at WCPL
Published 5:00 am Sunday, December 28, 2025
Growing up homeschooled in the early 2000s, Laura Beth Fox-Ezell lived a formative part of her childhood at the Warren County Public Library — discovering some of her first books, a place to study and learn, and a community within its walls. She joined the staff more than a decade ago and has since held numerous roles throughout a dozen years within WCPL — where in August, the WCPL Board of Trustees appointed her as the library system’s new co-director.
“This library has guided me through every stage of my life,” she said. “Today I’m proud to help shape the meaningful role it continues to play for so many people in our community.”
Fox-Ezell will continue guiding programming and quality-of-life events while taking on new administrative, operational and organizational leadership roles alongside library co-director Courtney Stevens, according to WCPL. Together, they oversee a 10-location library system with programming from theater, live music and speaker events at the Capitol, to the farmers market, the ice rink and wellness programming at the SOKY Center, to book deliveries and reading at daycares and schools, to the Little Free Shuttle, which takes people to groceries and pharmacies, and far more.
“Laura Beth Fox-Ezell has been instrumental in shaping the identity and direction of our library system,” added WCPL Board of Trustees President Beth Schaeffer in a statement. “Her dedication to innovation, equity, and exceptional service reflects the very best of what a modern public library can be. Coupled with her deep community connections and unwavering commitment to our patrons, she is poised to further strengthen WCPL’s legacy of service, collaboration, and forward-thinking progress.”
Fox-Ezell expressed a deep commitment to listening to community and pivoting toward emerging needs whenever possible. At this time, she said, that means creating exceptional experiences through library programming and events — as well as expanding regular access to quality-of-life offerings such as the Capitol’s free movies, the SOKY Center’s equitable fitness classes, and programming that supports early childhood development, curiosity-driven learning and career readiness.
Fox-Ezell added that she’s most interested in initiatives strengthening quality of life through placemaking and community building. The next phase of work, she said, focuses on investing in staff by ensuring they have the support, tools and capacity needed to champion patrons’ most valued library offerings and to serve the community. She’s also invested in strengthening partnerships with organizations that have missions aligned with the library’s, including Warren County Parks and Recreation, the Warren County Government and the City of Bowling Green as well as nonprofits such as HOTEL INC and the International Center.
“Warren County residents thrive when they have strong connections, easy access to resources, and opportunities to build resiliency, and WCPL actively works to create and expand those opportunities every day,” Fox-Ezell said. “As more people move to Bowling Green and build their lives here, the library serves as a welcoming place to connect with the community, meet new people, and continue learning. During times of financial uncertainty, public libraries remain essential access points, offering families meaningful quality-of-life experiences at no cost.”
For Fox-Ezell, involvement in the library system as a staff member began as a student worker in 2013. She has since held the roles of bookmobile librarian, youth & outreach librarian, youth services manager, executive program manager and assistant director — acquiring her master’s in library science and professional librarian certification along the way.
She’s also especially well known for her role as educational services coordinator from 2015 to 2019 — where she helped grow the program from a small, closet-sized operation to an entire wing of the library system’s outreach division. Last year, it served over 1,134 preschool educational programs at the library’s locations and made more than 2,000 preschool and daycare book deliveries.
“Few moments compare to walking into a daycare with a bag of books and hearing children cheer that the library lady has arrived,” Fox-Ezell added. “Those moments affirm what we know to be true: children across our county are eager to learn, and WCPL remains deeply committed to meeting that enthusiasm with access, care, and opportunity.”
The Capitol Manager Magnolia Gramling, her friend since eighth grade, said the library has been Fox-Ezell’s one true passion and calling.
“It has been beautiful to watch her as a friend grow in this role and really make a positive impact on the community,” Gramling said.
WCPL Community Development Manager Emily Witthuhn described times she would scramble alongside Fox-Ezell to quickly oversee programs that would grow unexpectedly large, such as Santa visits at events where families took pictures with the man in red.
“She turned something chaotic into something that would be a fun experience for all the families that arrived,” Witthuhn said.
“I think really in a lot of ways, the library raised her — and now, because she’s been part to the system for so long, she’s been growing the system, so I think it’s just this really beautiful mutual growth all along the way.”
Stevens, Fox-Ezell’s codirector, described Fox-Ezell as exemplary in every role she’s held.
“She embodies the library in a way that I just deeply appreciate and respect and admire,” Stevens said.
Stevens recalled early in her leadership spending a day with every position that touched outreach, and delivering books at preschools and daycares alongside Fox-Ezell.
“She was just brilliant,” Stevens said. “I told her that day: ‘You’re going to run the library one day, without a shadow of a doubt.'”
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