His reach extended well beyond the library. Mr. Hallett organized talent shows and reading-incentive rock concerts, and oversaw the student-run TV studio - in addition to participating in programs on the district's Education Channel. A few years ago, he helped develop - and then became - the Red Reader, the superhero at the center of a motivational reading show. He also gave voice to puppet Professor Q on a show called "Math Homework Helpers."
"He talked with kids like they were people," Mrs. Hallett said. And one of his primary goals was to get them "to think reading is a fun thing," she added.
That creative mind also fostered Mr. Hallett's musical talent. For about two decades, he spent Friday and Saturday evenings singing on the street corner outside the Pikesville restaurant Jilly's when the weather was nice, his wife said.
"Bob was just such a special guy," said Mrs. Hallett, who met her husband nearly 30 years ago at a Jewish community center in Pikesville. "When he was in a room, you felt his energy and his strength and his spirit."
He "noticed things," she said, and "always put everybody else first."
"He's a guy that just spread joy to everybody he came in touch with," said his twin brother, Norman Hallett of Florida. "It started as a little kid, and it ran all the way through Riderwood."
Parents, students and others have posted hundreds of messages on a Web site that Mrs. Hallett has been using for updates. Note after note describes how the librarian transformed students into enthusiastic readers.
"I can't even imagine what I could ever do to make the impact that he made," said parent Shelly Plasse, who has two sons at Riderwood and volunteers in the library.
A graveside service is scheduled at 12:30 p.m. Friday at Columbia Memorial Park, 12005 Clarksville Pike in Columbia.
In addition to his wife and brother, Mr. Hallett is also survived by a daughter, Marni, a student at Towson University; a son, Lee, a student at University of Maryland Baltimore County; and brothers Dan Hallett of Florida and Jay Hallett of New York.
