Greenville, SC Director Resigns, After Board Members Replaced

Staff -- Library Journal, 3/6/2000

The Executive Director of the Greenville County Library, SC, Phil Ritter, resigned February 28 after an executive session with board trustees. New Board Chairman David Sudduth cited a draft copy of a management and operations study that indicated there were management problems. Also, according to the Greenville News Sudduth cited poor communications between the library, the board, the County Council and county administrators, and the need to communicate better with the staff and library patrons. More explicitly, he told the Columbia State newspaper that Ritter had poorly handled a controversy after the press reported that a group of men regularly used library computers to access sex chat rooms and web sites. The board itself was shaken up earlier in the month, after the County Council replaced four of five incumbents, naming seven new trustees. County leaders cited management problems, as well as the board's policy of unfiltered Internet access. "Not using filters wasn't my main concern," said Council Chairman Dozier Brooks, "but I do think we cannot allow pornography to be available to children at the library." Director of Library Services Norman Belk was appointed interim executive director.