Interviews with seven people, three with Arkansas connections, will take place via Skype this week to narrow the number of candidates to become executive director for the William F. Laman Public Library System in North Little Rock.
The Laman Library board of trustees is to meet from 1 to 5 p.m. at the main library's conference room, 2801 Orange St., today and Tuesday for the meetings with the semifinalists. The interviewees were chosen by the trustees Aug. 14 from a pool of 17 presented by a consultant team. Finalist interviews are scheduled to be in person Sept. 11.
All interview sessions will be open to the public.
Four candidates will be interviewed today and the other three Tuesday, said Dan Bradbury of Bradbury Associates, an executive search firm for libraries that the board hired in May.
The semifinalists are:
• Al Barron, director for four years at Washington Parish Library, Franklinton, La.
• Crystal Gates, director for five years at Jackson Parish Library, Jonesboro, La.
• Holly Mercer, assistant director for seven months at Martinsburg-Berkeley County Public Libraries, Martinsburg, W.Va.
• Cynthia O, library services director for almost four years at Guthrie Public Library, Guthrie, Okla.
• Jana Prock, director for eight years at Keller Public Library, Keller, Texas.
• Lisa Scroggins, director for eight years, Claud H. Gilmer Memorial Library, Rocksprings, Texas.
• Jeff Woodmansee, assistant professor of law librarianship/research support and reference librarian for four years, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, William H. Bowen School of Law, Little Rock.
Woodmansee, who lives in Sherwood, is the only candidate currently in Arkansas, but two others have ties to the state. Mercer spent four years as executive director of the East Central Arkansas Regional Library System in Wynne, leaving in October 2013. Scroggins has family in Arkansas, according to information the consultants provided the library board Aug 14.
After the board gathers at 1 p.m. today to go over a preset list of questions, the first interview will begin at 1:30 p.m., Bradbury said. The same format will be followed Tuesday.
"The plan is for 35 minutes of actual connect time, 30 minutes of board questions to the candidate and five minutes for any questions candidates have for the board," Bradbury said. "After the seventh interview on Tuesday, we like to do a first-impressions thing where there is discussion about the candidates and each [trustee] will write down their top three choices and we'll put that up on the board. That kind of focuses the discussion."
Bradbury has done executive job searches for libraries for 12 years, he said. Getting a good, working number of finalists -- preferably three, he said -- is important to move along the process, he said.
"After a brief discussion on who they think is the best fit, then they will invite them back for the final interviews," he said. "Sometimes there is a possibility they might not be able to get to three and they'll go with four. That's not unusual. We've had as many as five [finalists]. Three is a good number. That gives you a lot of flexibility."
The Laman Library System consists of the main library 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 after 27 years at that job. Mary Furlough has been interim director since then.
The position has an advertised salary range of $70,000 to $90,000 annually and requires a master's degree in library science.
Some of the seven semifinalists share their master's degree backgrounds, according to their resumes. Both Barron and Gates earned their master's degrees at Louisiana State University; O and Prock at the University of Oklahoma; and Scroggins and Woodmansee at the University of North Texas. Mercer's master's degree is from Drexel University.
Woodmansee also has a juris doctor from the Bowen School of Law.
Metro on 08/24/2015