The Bradley County history branch of the public library on North Ocoee has a new director.

Margot Still, whose family have been longtime residents of Cleveland, has been hired to replace former director Treasure Swanson. Swanson had retired, but continued to assist at the history branch until a new director was hired.

Still, who has been working at the main branch of the library with reference responsibilities, exclaimed the this position is her dream job. “I couldn’t be any happier,” she added.

“I’m extremely fortunate, and the competition was very fierce,” she said. The public library Executive Director Andy Hunt agreed with Still’s assessment.

Hunt said a selection committee was formed to pick the new director, made up of himself, former history branch director and board member Barbara Fagen, and youth librarian Keisha Park. “We narrowed 25 applicants to 10, before selecting Margot,” he said.

Hunt said it was a very extensive search, and the decision was not reached until the very end of the interview process.

Still says she has some great ideas which she hopes will enliven the history branch’s programs, bring awareness of the library’s offerings to the general public, and generate participation from the community.

“There are some many wonderful things going on around here,” she said. “We’re completing the building’s renovations, and there’s so many wonderful collections, records and documents of the history of the people who lived in the area, and what their lives were like.”

“Our history is not stagnant, it’s continually in motion,” she added.

She said that in this new position she has the opportunity “to work with an amazing group of people.”

Still was still in her first week during the interview, but was excited and intense about the history branch’s future.

During the talk she pointed out that she has brought a family heirloom to work with her. It is an 1850 clock which has been worked over time and again by her father, Jimmy Still, who does clockwork as a hobby.

The clock is named “Aunt Berthie, and was handed down from her father’s great aunt. The clock was constructed in 1850, and is about the same age as the Craigmiles House, which is home to the history branch.

She said her father is currently working on another ancient clock, which he says may get the best of him. The clock is made entirely of wood, including the works.

The old wooden clock had an old photograph of George Washington inside its glass case, and has been nicknamed “The General.”

Still grew up in Cleveland, and was born at the old Bradley Memorial Hospital to Jimmy and Joan Still. Her father worked for the telephone company for 37 years. Her mom was an accountant, working for attorney Bill Fillauer and car dealer Lawrence Renfro.

Still says she is an avid reader and still has her first-ever book about Abraham Lincoln. “It cost 35 cents,” she said.

She has three sister. Sandra Bean lives in Texas, Patricia Reynolds is a Cleveland resident, and Louann Chappell is an engineer on the Trans-Alaskan pipeline. Chappell and her husband live in Gallatin.

Still attended George R. Stuart Elementary School, Cleveland Junior High, and Cleveland High School, graduating in 1980. She received a bachelor’s degree from UT-Knoxville in history, and did archive work at UT’s Center for Study of War and Society. She graduated from UT in 1985.

Still then moved into the medical field in administration. She was first at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, then transferred to the UT Medical School in Memphis.

She returned to Cleveland in 1997, and returned to school. She obtained a masters degree in education from UT-Chattanooga in 2006.

She then took her education degree to Walterboro, S.C., where she taught school for four years.

Still said she missed the hills, mountains, valleys and rivers of Southeast Tennessee and returned to Cleveland where she began reference work at the library. She said she also enjoys spending time with her elderly parents. Her father is 87, although he remains very active and is able to work with his clocks.

One of her relatives is also a noted historian and grew up in South Bradley County where he has assisted with some historical markers. Tim McCoy is president of the World Cocoa Foundation, based in Washington, D.C.