Wanted: library overlord. Must have master's degree in something

Sault Ste. Marie Public Library has begun its search for a new chief executive officer/ director of public libraries.

The library board tonight established a three-member selection committee with the hiring process expected to be complete by November.

This month, a new job description will be developed with assistance from Matthew MacDonald, who's served as acting CEO/ libraries director for the past 20 months, replacing Roxanne Toth-Rissanen, who had held the position since December, 2014.

Also helping with the hiring will be Mellissa D'Onofrio Jones of Ontario Library Service - North (OLS-N), who has agreed to participate in the search committee in a non-voting capacity, possibly assisting with development of recruitment advertisements and a candidate package.

OLS-N may be involved in tracking and pre-screening of candidates and summarizing applications for short-listing, possibly participating in interviews but not in recommending any candidate.

Advice will also be sought from the city's human resources department.

It's expected that four to six finalists will be interviewed by phone or video link from Oct. 1 to Oct. 10.

Second interviews with as many as three top candidates will be completed during the remaining weeks of October.

Reference checks, drafting of a job offer and negotiations will follow that.

Library board members agreed tonight that a master's degree will be mandatory for the Sault's top librarian, although the successful candidate won't necessarily have a master's of library science.

Master's degrees in business or public administration were mentioned as desirable, with Ward 2 Coun. Luke Dufour quipping that a master's degree in physical education might be less useful.

Recruitment methods will include newspaper ads, library schools, Ontario Library Association and direct or indirect approaches to potential candidates. 

Final decision on candidate selection will be made by the full library board.

Librarians get to fly across stacks on rolling ladder

In other news from tonight's library board meeting, a $73,829 contract for archival and industrial shelving at the new North Branch library was awarded to Ergo Office Plus of Sault Ste. Marie.

Ergo's proposal won over three other suppliers:

• Equipment World of Sault Ste. Marie
• Compact Storage Solutions of Richmond Hill
• Smart Space Solutions of Toronto

In addition to high-density compact shelving, Ergo will supply the North Branch with a rolling ladder, track, installation and moving expenses for library's large map cabinets.

The company's proposal was considerably less than what the board had expected to pay.

"Ergo Office Plus has estimated that their proposed solution has the potential to increase storage capacity to almost 300 per cent that of the library's current capacity," says Matthew MacDonald in a report to the library board.

"With some modifications to the proposed layout, [a library staff] committee believes the new archival space could easily exceed that 300 per cent," MacDonald said.

The North Branch library is to open later this year.

Can Korah Branch be saved?

Library board chair Elspeth Belair recently wrote to Mayor Provenzno and city councillors, asking for additional funds to allow its beleaguered Korah Branch to continue to operate, even at reduced capacity.

"Over the past five months, library staff and the board have investigated various service options for Korah Branch including vending library services, self-service options, pop-up library services and simple outreach services," Belair wrote.

"Many of these service options, while useful for expanding library services within a community, cannot replace a library.... Since the first announcement about the branch's possible closure, we have heard from the public about how important the service is to them. It is the board's hope that council will re-evaluate its position on library funding."

Without comment, councillors voted last week to refer the request to its 2020 budget deliberations.

New board member

Also last week, City Council appointed Jami van Haaften to the library board from July 15, 2019 to Nov. 14, 2020.

Van Haaften will replace Rick Wark, who resigned citing an inability to consistently attend meetings due to personal circumstances.

The library board is comprised of nine community members, all appointed by City Council.

Other members of the 2019-2022 library board are Elspeth Belair (chair), Wayne Greco (vice chair), Luke Dufour, Erin Ferlaino, Kevin Harrison, Sara McCleary, Steve Murray and Frances Ryan.