Yesterday (Sunday), the Carroll Public Library Board of Trustees hosted an open house to allow the public to meet the finalists in their search for a new Library Director. The Carroll Library has been without a director since May following the resignation of Rachel Van Erdewyk. With the help of Midwest Municipal Consulting LLC, the board narrowed the candidate pool down to three finalists: Angela Hughes, Wendy Johnson, and Wendy Moulton. For the last 19 years, Hughes has been the chief librarian for the Kuemper Catholic School System. She says she loves working with students of all ages at the school but wants to bring that experience to a larger audience.
Hughes holds a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Services from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Johnson is a Scranton native who moved back to her hometown to raise her family. She became Library Director for the H.F. & Maude Marchant Memorial Library in Scranton four years ago. Johnson says the facility there has grown in almost every metric under her direction.
She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology and a minor in French from the University of Iowa. The final candidate, Moulton, says she spent most of her life in the library. Her first job was sorting returned books at her hometown library in Kansas. She has more than a decade of experience working as a library director in Abilene and Clay Center, Kan. However, she says her first foray into library leadership was a bit unexpected.
Moulton adds she was forced to learn the job on the fly. While stressful, she says she loved the experience. She earned her Master’s Degree in Library Science from Emporia State University in Kansas. The Board of Trustees provided feedback slips to those in attendance at Sunday’s open house and will use input from the public as they work towards making a hire. Formal interviews are scheduled for today (Monday), and the Board of Trustees hopes to announce the Carroll Public Library’s next director by the end of the month.
