Salt Lake City Public Library Names Director Finalists

Lynn Blumenstein -- Library Journal, 3/13/2008

• One from in-house, one from overseas
• Last search came up empty
• Meetings next week

The Salt Lake City Public Library (LJ's 2006 Library of the Year) has narrowed its search for a new director to three finalists: Britton Lund, the library’s assistant director; Elizabeth Elder, Denver Public Library director of planning; and Kathlin Ray, a librarian at the United Arab Emirates’ American University of Sharjah.

After Nancy Tessman retired last June, the library’s board of directors instituted a search for her successor. The leading candidate, Clyde Scoles, director of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, told the Salt Lake Tribune that both he and the library board agreed that the job was not the “right fit.”

Next week, the public will have the opportunity to meet the three candidates and give feedback at two panel discussions. Helen Rollins, president of the library board, told the Tribune, “I'm very confident that we'll make an offer for a job to one of these women, and equally confident—and hopeful—that they'll accept it."