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A real list of qualifications

As a long-time resident of Knoxville and Friend of the Knox County Public Library, I am reminded by the recent debacle over the selection of an Interim Library Director why Knoxville politics is a joke in more enlightened states. My congratulations to the three library trustees who voted against Mr. Davenport's selection as Interim Director and for believing that the future of the Knox County Library System is important enough to warrant a legitimate and professional search for the best-qualified director possible and who voted accordingly.

Knoxville growth has been stymied for decades because of this mentality that relationships (who you know, who your daddy knew, who you attend UT football games with, who you play golf with, etc.) holds more sway in political appointments than do qualifications for the job. Mr. Davenport may be a great friend or sports buddy, he may be a solid pillar of the community, he may be an outstanding school librarian, but with no proven experience in a comparable position nor a proven record of having grown such a system, I cannot see how anyone with a modicum of intelligence could say that he is the person to lead the Knox County Libraries into the future or that he can even keep it from sliding backward.

A mere Internet search on the words "library director search," brings up countless library sites currently searching for a new director, libraries with many times smaller budgets than ours, but libraries which, nonetheless, take their directorships seriously. I have compiled a list of some of the director requirements mentioned on most of these web sites. Among them is a master's degree in library science; five years of professional library experience including supervisory responsibility for library staff or comparable supervisory level experience; knowledge of financial planning methods; knowledge of personnel management, etc.

I haven't read the job requirements for the Knox Library Director, but I hope that it contains similar language, particularly the line that reads, "Preference will be given to those candidates establishing the highest level of professional expertise as evidenced by the following."

The good ole boy system is being challenged in this era of telecommunications. It's no longer possible to do glad-handing in a vacuum; everyone is instantly exposed on a global level. Just as the world sees how most libraries conduct library director searches, so it also sees when one abuses the system. When I do an Internet search on "Knox County library director search," the results are very telling. Not only do none of the results announce that such a position is available nor give the qualifications for said position, but—and this is most troubling—the position is not even listed on the Tennessee Library Association's listing of library positions currently available. The results that do appear are embarrassing newspaper accounts of the mishandling of this situation.

I hope that the four library trustees who voted in favor of Mr. Davenport's appointment read such a list in light of Mr. Davenport's credentials and that they are able to objectively separate friendship from professional and ethical responsibility and will set about conducting a search that honors our fine library and staff and continues the tradition upheld by our current director, Ms. Patricia Watson.

Judy Loest
Knoxville