Jason Homer, who has led the Worcester Public Library for nearly six years and become a prominent figure in the city’s civic and cultural life, is leaving Worcester to take the top job at one of Maryland’s largest public library systems.
Homer has been named executive director of the Baltimore County Public Library, where he is expected to begin Dec. 1. His final day at the Worcester Public Library will be Nov. 6, WPL announced Thursday.
Tressa Santillo, Worcester’s director for Library Innovation and Public Services, will serve as interim executive director while the Worcester Public Library Board of Directors conducts a national search for Homer’s permanent successor.
“Leaving Worcester Public Library is incredibly bittersweet,” Homer said in the WPL announcement. “There is no way to adequately express what this community and this library have meant to me.”
Homer has served as Worcester’s library director since 2020, a tenure that saw the library broaden its work in areas ranging from digital access and social services to community partnerships and programs for underserved residents.
Among the most significant changes was the creation and expansion of the library’s Community Resources Department, which combines social work and library services to connect residents with assistance involving housing, food insecurity, health care, immigration, re-entry, veterans services and English-language learning.
The library also expanded digital equity and accessibility initiatives during Homer’s tenure and adopted a new strategic roadmap and its “You Belong Here” identity.
“I am proud of what we have accomplished together,” Homer said in the announcement. “But I am even more proud of the people who made it happen.”
Homer’s departure will bring a significant leadership change to an institution that has increasingly positioned itself as more than a traditional repository for books, expanding its role as a hub for technology, education, social services and other community resources.
Stephanie Pasha, president of the Worcester Public Library Board of Directors, credited Homer with encouraging the organization to rethink that role.
“For Jason, leadership has always been about people,” Pasha said in the announcement. “He has challenged us to think bigger about what a public library can be, while making sure that the people doing the work had the support, encouragement and opportunities to make that vision a reality.”
WPL and its staff have also accumulated national and international recognition during Homer’s tenure.
The library received the American Library Association’s John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award and an International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions PressReader International Library Marketing Award. The Worcester Talking Book Library was named the 2026 National Library Service Subregional Library of the Year, and WPL was a finalist for the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ National Medal for Museum and Library Service.
Homer himself was named a Library Journal “Mover and Shaker” in its Change Agents category in 2025.
In Baltimore County, Homer will take charge of a considerably larger library system, overseeing 19 branches, four mobile libraries, approximately 500 employees and a $50 million operating budget. The system serves a population of about 800,000.
He was selected as Baltimore County Public Library’s sixth executive director following a nationwide search conducted by its Board of Trustees with executive search firm Bradbury Miller Associates.
“It is an incredible honor to join Baltimore County Public Library and become part of an institution with such a distinguished tradition of innovation, service and community impact,” Homer said in the Baltimore County announcement.
Before coming to Worcester, Homer held positions at the Morse Institute Library in Natick, Marlborough Public Library and Wellesley Free Library. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Stonehill College and a master’s degree in library and information science from Simmons University.
The Worcester library board said Thursday that Santillo will lead the system on an interim basis while it searches nationally for Homer’s successor.
“Jason leaves WPL stronger than he found it,” Pasha said in the announcement. “We have an exceptional staff, an engaged Board, dedicated volunteers, strong community partnerships and a clear vision for the future. We are incredibly grateful for his leadership and excited about what comes next.”
WPL will hold a public farewell celebration for Homer from 5 to 7 p.m. Oct. 27 at the Main Library, 3 Salem Square. Library employees, community members, volunteers, partners and friends are invited to attend.
“Worcester gave me so much more than a job,” Homer said in the announcement. “It gave me a community to believe in, colleagues who became friends, and the opportunity to see firsthand what happens when people come together around a shared belief in the power of libraries.”
“I will miss Worcester enormously,” he said.
