by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
The City’s vacancy at the head of its library system has attracted interest from across the country.
Kansas City recruiting firm Gossage Sager Associates has whittled the list of candidates to 12. Some come from as far away as California and New Jersey, some as close as Ponte Vedra Beach and one is currently filling the director’s job on an interim basis.
Acting director Carolyn Shehee Williams made the list in the first round of the job search. Others are Houston Library director Barbara Gubbin, an early favorite of the local library board; Juliet Machie, director of public services for the Detroit Public Library; Catherine Lenix-Hooker, promotion manager for the Newark, N.J. Symphony Hall; and Elizabeth Mangold.
Gossage Sager announced the second — and final — round of candidates Oct. 1. They are Ophelia Roop, director of the San Bernadino Public Library; Charles McMorran, assistant director of support services for Jacksonville and former director of the Queens Borough Public Library; Mary Kaye Hooker, former director of Atlanta Fulton County’s public libraries; Marcia King, who formerly led Gary, Indiana’s system; Elizabeth Curry, currently in charge of Clearwater’s libraries; John F. Szabo; and Ed Syznaka.
Gossage Sager senior consultant Dan Bradbury said Jacksonville hopes to fill the job before opening the new Main Library early next year. The new facility is one of the City’s chief assets in attracting candidates in a job market crowded with openings, he said.
The new director will have a chance to put their fingerprints on $150 million in recent capital improvements. But the new director will also face a challenge trying to run the City’s new 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, you need operating dollars. You’re going to want a substantial budget.”
Jacksonville is projected to spend $30 million on its libraries in the next fiscal year. That’s a $4 million bump from last year, but $6.5 million less than the local board originally requested. Jacksonville’s lead library job is open, in part, because former director Ken Sivulich retired in February after haggling with the mayor over the budget. The final budget still awaits the City Council’s approval.
Jacksonville’s ideal candidate will welcome the budget challenge, said Bradbury. Most of the finalists referenced in their letters of interest past experiences with belt tightening successes.
“Funding had been reduced drastically,” said Roop, recalling her start in San Bernardino. “Services were limited and operations were outdated and costly . . . I accepted the position precisely because of the enormous challenges it presented.”
One area where Jacksonville looks willing to spend is salary. Sivulich’s $116,000 annual paycheck was deemed insufficient by Jacksonville’s board. Bradbury said the final number would likely range from the current level to $130,000 annually, but that decision will be up to the board. Bradbury distances himself from salary discussions, because his paycheck is pegged to the new hire’s pay.
The board believes an annual salary of at least $125,000 will be necessary to compete for top candidates. Houston director Gubbin, who the board has talked about since the beginning of the search, earned $107,000 last year. Bradbury told the board that Houston is “notoriously low paying.” The 2003 Public Library Data Service Report showed Jacksonville’s $116,000 salary sitting just slightly above the national average for similar-sized cities.