William F. Laman Public Library System trustees chose seven semifinalists for preliminary interviews for the library's executive director position during a special meeting Friday with consultants from an executive search firm.
Four members of the library's seven-position board of trustees met in the open meeting after individually reviewing since last week resumes of 17 candidates provided by Dan and Jobeth Bradbury, owners of Bradbury Associates, a Kansas City, Mo., executive search service for libraries.
Each trustee provided the consultants with a top five list from their own reviews, though not all were listed in order of preference. Thirteen of the 17 candidates made at least one list, the Bradburys said, though only five were on more than one of the four lists.
Those five, plus two others chosen after Friday's discussion, were selected to be interviewed via Skype on Aug. 24-25, if they are still interested in the job.
Three or four of the semifinalists will then be chosen to visit North Little Rock for final interviews Sept. 11, Jobeth Bradbury said.
The seven candidates to be interviewed are:
• Al Barron, director, Washington Parish Library, Franklinton, La.
• Crystal Gates, director, Jackson Parish Library, Jonesboro, La.
• Holly Mercer, assistant director, Martinsburg-Berkeley County Public Libraries, Martinsburg, W.Va.
• Cynthia O, library services director, Guthrie Public Library, Guthrie, Okla.
• Jana Prock, director, Keller Public Library, Keller, Texas.
• Lisa Scroggins, director, Claud H. Gilmer Memorial Library, Rocksprings, Texas.
• Jeff Woodmansee, assistant professor of law librarianship/research support and reference librarian, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, William H. Bowen School of Law, Little Rock.
Interview sessions Aug. 24-25 and Sept. 11 will be in an open meeting so the public can attend.
"I think we have a pretty good consensus" on the seven picks, board Chairman Vicki Matthews said.
Dan Bradbury told board members that his firm had interviewed each candidate in preparation for Friday's meeting with the library board. The consultants discussed all 13 candidates that at least one of the trustees had initially picked among their top five, plus one other candidate, before eliminating all but the seven semifinalists.
Trustee Esther Crawford told the Bradburys that they had provided the board with "such a clearly defined process, it made it easy for us."
The William F. Laman Public Library System includes the main library at 2801 Orange St. and the Argenta Branch Library at 420 Main St.
The executive director's job has been open since the death of Jeff Baskin in September from cancer. Mary Furlough has served as interim director since then.
The library board approved a contract in May for up to $18,000 to hire the Bradburys' firm after a job-application process through the city hadn't produced a new executive director. A city search committee released the names of six finalists to be interviewed in March, but reopened the search process in April after each of the top two choices turned down offers for the job.
The position requires a master's degree in library science. The advertised annual salary has been $70,000-$90,000. Applications closed Aug. 2.
Metro on 08/15/2015