by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
To find a new library director in a job market crowded with openings, Jacksonville will likely have to increase its salary offer and feature its new facilities, said a recruiter hired by the City.
Dan Bradbury, a former Kansas City library director and senior consultant with library consultant Gossage Sager Associates, said Jacksonville’s public library system presented both a challenge and an opportunity to candidates for the top job. The person hired by the City will welcome both said Bradbury.
The new director will have a chance to put their fingerprints on $150 million worth of capital improvements, including the new Main Library downtown that should be open by early next year. Bradbury said the City hopes to have a director in place when that building opens. But the new director will also face a challenge trying to run those facilities with an annual budget that Bradbury said is, “perhaps not as much as they would want.”
“The capital improvements enabled by the Better Jacksonville Plan will certainly be one of the chief factors that candidates are going to look at,” said Bradbury. “It’s absolutely a plus. But there is a downside. It’s kind of like bringing home an elephant. Once you buy it, you have to feed it and house it, and you need the operating dollars. You’re going to want a substantial budget.”
Jacksonville’s public library board originally asked Mayor John Peyton for $36.5 million to run the expanded library system next year. That request was pared back to $30 million — still a $4 million bump from the previous year — following negotiations with the mayor’s office. The former director, Ken Sivulich, said haggling over the budget was one reason he retired in February. The final budget number awaits the City Council’s approval.
The City may also have to spend more in salary to attract a top–flight replacement for Sivulich. Bradbury stays out of salary discussions as much as possible. His salary is pegged to the new director’s eventual salary. However, the 2003 Public Library Data Service Report showed Jacksonville’s $116,000 salary sitting just slightly above the national average for similar sized cities.
“We tend not to get involved with the salary negotiations, because it could be kind of self serving to push higher salaries when our compensation is based on that,” said Bradbury. “But it’s something the board will probably take a look at.”
Gossage Sager’s ad for the job describes the salary range as “six figures and competitive.” Bradbury said the final number would likely range from the current salary to $130,000 annually, depending on candidates’ experience.
According to e–mails circulated among the board members, an annual salary of at least $125,000 will be necessary to compete for top candidates. One candidate attracting early interest is Houston Library Director Barbara Gubbin, who has run the city’s libraries since 1995. She made $107,000 last year, according to an e–mail from Bradbury to the board. He described Houston as “notoriously low paying.”
Pay and benefits are increasingly important in what Bradbury describes as an “active job market.” He said an ongoing wave of retiring baby boomers has left jobs open across the country. Bradbury counts himself as a member of the trend. He said he occupies “the front edge,” of the baby boom and retired in 2003 after 19 years as head of Kansas City’s libraries to take his current job.
“There’s a lot of people retiring, creating openings. There are a good number of job openings, but there’s a lot of good talent. You just have to look a little harder,” said Bradbury.
He described Jacksonville’s opening as “a plum job,” and Bradbury expects to present the board with a list of 20 to 30 qualified candidates by Oct. 13. The application deadline is Sept. 30.
Bradbury said the recent capital improvements and an active network of private advocate groups would appeal to candidates. One intangible factor could be Jacksonville’s potential to become a big–time southern City.
“There’s a real sense that the library system and Jacksonville are kind of on the cusp of being able to move to the next level of public service,” he said.