CHAPEL HILL - Kathleen Thompson, the director of the Chapel Hill Public Library, will retire at the end of September after almost 27 years of service.

She said her resignation will give her time to travel abroad and spend time with her first great-niece and family members in Sweden.

“Kathy has led our library for a long time and much of its success can be credited to the leadership she has provided to the team of employees and volunteers who make our library the best anywhere,” Town Manager Roger Stancil said. “Kathy has always been about what is best for the library. We will miss her greatly.”

Thompson’s resignation coincides with the library’s expansion project, which will add 35,500 square feet and is on schedule to be complete by January 2013.

She said the expansion project provides a natural break between current operations and the new procedures required for operating in the new space.

Thompson received her bachelor’s degree in English literature from Michigan State University in 1972, and her master’s in library science from the University of Michigan in 1973.

Before becoming library director in 1985, she worked for two years as a contract consultant for Xerox University Microfilms in Ann Arbor, Mich., and 10 years as the director of the Cass County Library in southwestern Michigan

“Chapel Hill is a wonderful community of voracious readers and life-long learners,” Thompson said in a letter. “I have thrived in the collegial atmosphere provided by supportive town officials, administration and staff and am proud of what we have accomplished together.”

The Chapel Hill public library is the busiest public library per capita in North Carolina, serving an average of 1,085 visitors per day.

Stancil said the town will conduct a national search to replace Thompson once the library staff and volunteers establish the qualities they want in a new director.