Five Candidates for Des Moines Directorship Named

-- Library Journal, 4/10/2007

Saul Amdursky, CEO of the Fraser Valley Regional Library, Abbotsford, BC, (and the former director of the Kalamazoo, PL, MI, the 2002 Gale/LJ Library of the Year) is among five finalists for the job directing the Des Moines Public Library, IA, which will conduct two days of interviews later this week. According to a news release from the library, the candidates will face interviews with various members of the library staff, members of the Des Moines Public Library Foundation, members of the Board of Trustees, and with City Manager Rick Clark and his staff. In fact, the candidates will be asked to speak publicly on one of the following topics on Thursday in the Central Library Grand Meeting Room:

• What three factors in the environments (internal or external) of most public libraries will create the greatest threats to their thriving in the next decade?
• What do you believe are the three greatest opportunities available to most public libraries in the coming decade?

Along with Amdursky, the candidates are Stephen P. Bero, director, Warren-Newport Public Library, Gurnee, IL; Alan Mark Englebert, director, Manitowoc Public Library and Manitowoc-Calumet Library System, WI; Ivonne Jimenez, deputy director extension services division, El Paso Public Library, TX; and Betsy Thompson, director, Sioux City Public Library, IA.