Trustees for the William F. Laman Public Library System reached a consensus on two executive director candidates Tuesday, then haggled over choosing a third finalist to visit North Little Rock for in-person interviews next month.
Crystal Gates, Lisa Scroggins and Cynthia O will have final interviews Sept. 11 after touring the city and meeting with staff members the day before. The seven-member board of trustees also chose Holly Mercer as an alternate finalist, who will move into the top three if one of the others pulls out of contention.
Gates is director of the Jackson Parish Library in Jonesboro, La., holding that position for five years.
Scroggins has been director for the past eight years at the Claud H. Gilmer Memorial Library in Rocksprings,Texas.
O is in her fourth year as library services director at Guthrie Public Library in Guthrie, Okla.
Mercer has been assistant director for seven months at Martinsburg-Berkeley County Public Library in Martinsburg, W. Va. She also is a former executive director of the East Central Arkansas Regional Library System in Wynne in Cross County.
After interviews via Skype with seven candidates Monday and Tuesday, each trustee voted for their top three candidates in order. Three points were given for a first place vote, two for second and one point for third.
Gates, with votes from all seven trustees and 14 points, and Scroggins, with six votes and 13 points, were the consensus top two picks. O was the only other candidate among six receiving votes to be named on at least three cards, but she tied for fifth with 3 points.
After board discussion, a second vote on those the trustees considered to be the next three contenders eliminated Al Barron, director of the Washington Parish Library in Franklinton, La. Because O and Mercer tied on that ballot with nine points each, a third, straight-up vote placed O on the final interview list, six votes to one, with Mercer to be the alternate.
The library board used Bradbury and Associates of Kansas City, Mo., to recruit candidates for the executive director's job, which has been open since longtime Executive Director Jeff Baskin died from cancer in September.
Four board members on Aug. 14, with trustee Joyce Brewer absent, narrowed an original list of 17 candidates to the seven interviewed this week. With two vacant trustee positions, Mayor Joe Smith temporarily appointed City Alderman Murry Witcher and Charley Baxter, director of the Patrick Hays Senior Citizens Center, to the library board last week to help in the hiring process.
Seeing and hearing the candidates over the video hookup made a difference for some of the candidates, who previously had been judged only on their qualifications.
Scroggins and O were the last two chosen as semifinalists Aug. 14 after trustees had agreed on their first five favorites. Their interviews, both on Tuesday, moved up both as finalists. Gates was at the top of the trustees' list each round.
"We had a pretty good consensus," board Chairman Vicki Matthews said after Tuesday's selections. "You never know with each step who is really going to be a good fit with us."
Both Gates and Scroggins referred to libraries as being the heart of a community.
Gates told trustees that a library should be "more than just books" and touted a summer reading program she began at her library that has grown from 37 students to 112 in its third year.
"I'm a change maker," Gates said when asked what challenge she expected if she was hired. "I do like to shake things up and move things forward."
Scroggins told the board she would want to immerse herself in the history of the community to help understand its needs. She also said her former jobs as a school teacher and a school district business manager gave her the necessary experience to work with schools and to handle budgets.
"Our budget here is much smaller," than Laman's, Scroggins said. "It really doesn't matter where the comma is in a number. Budgeting is planning ahead and sticking to it, always having a plan."
O, a former U.S. Air Force intelligence analyst, said she considered the Laman Library position "an upgrade to new territory and a new challenge to extend my knowledge and experience."
"I try to soak up everything I can," she said. "One of my favorite things to do with a new job is that everything is new and exciting, and I enjoy that challenge."
Mercer, who left Wynne for a library director job in Oregon before moving to West Virginia less than two years later, said the Laman Library job is enticing because of the variety of services offered to its patrons.
"This job presents such a tremendous opportunity to be creative," Mercer said. "This job is such a tremendous opportunity that I want to make a strong commitment" to stay at Laman if hired.
The Laman Library System consists of the main library, 2801 Orange St., and its Argenta Branch, 420 Main St. in downtown North Little Rock. The library system has 28 full-time employees and an annual budget of $3.2 million, interim director Mary Furlough said.
Metro on 08/26/2015