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FOXBORO - She might have retired Saturday, but Diane Monahan is still a Foxboro resident and won't become a stranger to the Boyden Library.

That would feel too much like leaving home.

"The staff is like a family," she said. "We've all become very close."

Monahan's first job after her graduation from Hyde Park High School was at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square, where she worked for five years before joining a private research library in Everett for several years.

She retires as the supervisor of adult services at the Boyden Library. But it hasn't been all books all the time. During the intervening years, Monahan reared four children as an at-home mom in the Beach Street residence which she and husband, Jim Monahan, bought in 1967.

"It's been personally wonderful for me, because of the opportunity to go to college after the kids were grown," she said.

Her successor will be Kathleen Bell-Harney of Warren, R.I., reference librarian at the Boyden for the past eight years, who, like Monahan, holds a master's degree in library science from Simmons College. Bell-Harney's promotion takes effect Monday.

Monahan's colleagues gave her a sendoff breakfast party last Thursday morning, before the library opened for the day.

Among other keepsakes, they presented her with a children's alphabet book, "Journey Around Cape Cod & the Islands from A to Z," by Martha Dav Zschock. The gift carried an inserted page, personalized by the library staff.

Under the drawing of a smiling cartoon librarian are such comments as, "Free to come and go as she pleases!! Former workmates totally envious and jealous."

Followed by heavy hints that those work pals would welcome an invitation to visit "said retired happy librarian" in Brewster, where the couple has a vacation place.

"We are very sorry to see her leaving our staff," Boyden Library Director Jerry Cirillo said.

Cirillo said Monahan had primary responsibility for the first Foxboro Reads program in the spring, when many locals read "The Namesake."

Starting work at the Boyden Library in 1989 as a substitute employee, she earned her master's degree before joining the Boyden full-time in technical services in 1993. She was placed in charge of all services for adults in 2004.

"Interacting with the patrons - that was the most enjoyable part," Monahan said. For many individuals who come in, she said, the library is clearly an important social connection.

Married 44 years, Diane and Jim, who is retired from National Grid, plan to spend more time with their six grandchildren, ages four to 10, and relaxing on The Cape.

The couple has a son, Christopher, of Medway, and three daughters, Laura Magee and Caren Monahan of Foxboro, and Lisa Keating of Kinderhook, N.Y.

Monahan will still be active in the local community.

A long-time Foxboro Cable Access volunteer, she has served on its board of directors for the past 15 years, and as its president for three years, until last January.

A strong believer in the educational value of FCA to viewers and volunteers alike, Monahan said a number of teenage cable volunteers -- trained by FCA in camera operating, directing and producing -- have gone on to related careers.

"It's a wonderful volunteer activity for people in town," she said.

She is a member of the library's public book group, which meets 7:30 p.m. the last Wednesday of the month.

Monahan, who ordered books for the library, figures the best she's read during the past year was "The Road," the 2006 post-apocalyptic novel by Cormac McCarthy, centered on a father and son's march toward the sea across a blasted and savage landscape.

For lighter fare, she enjoys reading fiction thrillers.

And in the car, she is re-discovering some literary classics in audio book form, taking pleasure in accents unheard on the printed page.

The library always with her.