Delaware's Sloan Meets With NCLIS, Then Declines Its Offer

Staff -- Library Journal, 2/9/1998

The newsbreak that was expected from the January 29-30 meetings of the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) never came. The nomination of Tom W. Sloan, State Librarian and Director of the Division of Libraries for Delaware, had finally cleared the time-consuming checking and processes of both the White House and the FBI, so it was expected that Sloan would become Executive Director of the Commission. Just days after the session, NCLIS chairperson Jeanne Simon told LJ that Sloan had decided to turn down the job.

However, Sloan may have had second thoughts about the job after meeting with the commission, which had hired Sloan as a consultant to propose an action plan for NCLIS. Although NCLIS board members expressed their desire for a more "proactive" plan than Sloan had submitted to them, only one commissioner, Frank Lucchino, the Controller of Allegheny County PA, voted against it. Sloan reminded the commission that he was still undecided about the executive director post, implying that the outcome of the debate over the plan might influence his thinking. Clearly irritated, Lucchino characterized Sloan's comments as an act of "coercion."