Metro Pulse/Insights/Library Director Search

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by Joe Sullivan

The appreciation that Knoxvillians have for their public library is well evidenced by the 98 percent satisfaction rate it received in a recent survey of county residents—the highest marks for any county service.

Among cities Knoxville's size, the Knox County Public Library system offers more branches, better technology and more accommodating service than most. Moreover, its distinctive McClung Collection is a treasure trove of historical research materials. No less of an authority than Metro Pulse's own Jack Neely attests that the McClung Collection's offerings are unrivaled by the public libraries in Chattanooga and Asheville, with which he is also familiar.

Much of the credit for the library system's high standing goes to a succession of distinguished directors including, for the past 17 years, Patricia Watson. The McClung Collection has had its own set of illustrious directors.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the politically appointed board of directors that oversees the library system. The board consists of nine members—one from each County Commission district appointed by that district's commissioners.

When Watson announced in February her plans to retire in September, the board should have promptly launched a national search for a successor. Advertising the position in the journal of the American Library Association is de rigueur according to Elizabeth Aversa, dean of the College of Information Sciences at UT. Seeking candidates nationally to validate the selection process is beneficial even when there is one or more strong local candidates for a position, adds Arthur Seymour, who oversaw the search for a new airport director during his term as chairman of the airport authority's board.

The library board, however, waited until June to set a search in motion and then advertised the position only in the News-Sentinel (while also sending notices to other libraries in Tennessee). Following a July 19 deadline for applications, the board's hasty timetable for picking a new director called for reducing the list of candidates to three this week solely by looking at their resumes. Then after a minimal allowance of time for reference checking, the three finalists were due to be interviewed next week in back-to-back one-hour sessions leading up to a board selection on Aug. 5. No provision was made for out-of-towners to meet with library staff members, visit branches and the rest of the city or otherwise assess their interest in moving to Knoxville. In sum, the process sent a put-offy message: Only Knoxvillians Need Apply.

One who showed an interest in doing so was the board's president, Charles Davenport. Davenport, who is a school librarian with little administrative experience, told the News-Sentinel on July 15 that, "Several people have encouraged me to apply." Perhaps because of a resultant outpouring of opposition, he didn't do so, saying on Monday that, "I felt I could better serve as president of the board."

By the July 19 cut-off, 16 applications had been received—four from within the library system and 12 from places as far away as California, Florida, Illinois, Oregon and Texas. But there's little doubt many more applicants would have been forthcoming if the search process had been more outreaching and inviting.

County Commissioner John Schmid took the initiative in getting a discussion of the process placed on Monday's Commission agenda. When asked by Schmid why the search had been so narrow, Davenport responded, "Sometimes a local person can do better than an outsider. We have a lot of momentum and want to sustain it; so there was a feeling that if we had someone well qualified [within the system], we didn't want someone from far afield."

Following appeals by Schmid and Commissioners Mike Arms and John Griess to consider reopening the search, Davenport said, "We'll take that under advisement." At a meeting of the library board later that same day, Davenport referred the matter to the board's five-person search committee chaired by H.C. Sumter.

Sumter, for his part, was clear that, "County Commission is our funding body, and we take their advice very seriously." At a search committee meeting on Tuesday, the committee voted unanimously to "reopen the search and make it nationwide." It also voted to scuttle plans for limiting the interviews of finalists to one hour, all conducted on the same day. Yet these votes merely took the form of recommendations back to the full board whose next meeting date remains uncertain. Nor did the committee make any attempt to define how a reopened search would be conducted, how applicants would be screened or finalists afforded an oppor-tunity to evaluate the position as well as be evaluated.

To this observer, the process and the processors remain anything but confidence inspiring. And that's particularly disturbing at a time when the library system needs the strongest leadership it can get. With 17 branches, 235 employees and an operating budget of $9 million, directing the system is a major management job. While the library has done a good job of incorporating the Internet and other new technology into its scheme of things, the technology is rapidly changing, and the new director needs to keep abreast of it. At the same time a major expansion of the McClung Collection is in the works as part of the $18 million addition to the East Tennessee Historical Center that's under construction. Beyond that, Watson is clear that a larger new main library is much needed.

All of this is not to say that one of Watson's deputies is not up to all these challenges. All four of the applicants from within the system give Watson's name as a reference. To this layman, one applicant whose resume stands out is Myretta Black. She moved to Knoxville last year to head the branch system after 17 years as the director of the library system that serves Columbus, Ga., and its environs.

I don't purport to be qualified to select a new library director. I just wish the library board were better qualified or that a highly qualified consultant could be involved in the selection process.