C.H. Booth Library Board of Trustees President Bob Geckle announced on Thursday, June 15, that Karen Tatarka will be leaving her position as library director, effective July 7.

After beginning her role as director in March of this year, she has decided to return to the Weston Public Library as its director, a position she held for six years prior to coming to Newtown.

"It truly was a difficult decision," Ms Tatarka said in a statement released to The Newtown Bee on June 16.

"I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to work with the dedicated staff at the C.H. Booth Library. They are an incredible resource to the Newtown community. I am sorry to leave the library, but I am honored to have been invited to return to Weston. I feel the opportunity there is more in line with my personal and professional goals," Ms Tatarka explained.

Mr Geckle said the news of her resignation was unexpected, and that he and the rest of the members of the library were "universally shocked" by the decision.

"Karen is a very talented person, and I have the highest regard for her as a library director. If you look at her experience and her background, she's a very, very talented person," Mr Geckle said. "I wish Karen the best. She's made a decision that she believes is best for her personally and professionally, and I respect that."

Until a new library director is selected, the C.H. Booth Library's current assistant director, Beryl Harrison, will be filling in as interim director - a role with which she is familiar.

She stepped into that position late last year after library director Brenda McKinley - who worked at the library for 22 years, two of those years in the position as director - left in December 2016 to become director of the Ridgefield Library. Before that, Ms Harrison served as interim director upon Director Janet Woycik's retirement in 2012, and again after that when a new library director abruptly left his post in 2013.

"We are so grateful for Beryl being willing to step up. She knows every nook and cranny in the building and knows everybody," Mr Geckle said.

Having worked at the C.H. Booth Library for the past 27 years, he is confident Ms Harrison will do well to help the library during this transitional time.

Mr Geckle assured that this change up with staff will not disrupt any future plans or programs for the library.

"Right now we plan to continue moving forward with the work we are doing," said Mr Geckle.

That includes carrying on with their strategic plan and marketing initiative, space planning efforts, and regularly scheduled board meetings. The next Board of Trustees meeting is set to take place in July and, coincidentally, will be the annual meeting and election of new officers.

Director Search Committee

The Board of Trustees will also make plans to hire a new library director.

Mr Geckle said, having just gone through the process a mere six months ago, they will be able to reference their recent work and, he believes, conduct a similar search to the last time.

"We had formed a search committee that consisted of two staff members of the library, four members of the Board of Trustees, and two members from the public," Mr Geckle said. "The members from the public were recommended by some of the staff, because they know who are frequent library users."

From there, he said the plan is to have the committee review "compensation and benefits of various comparable libraries," post the job opening, narrow the candidates, then do the process of interviews.

He says if candidates who applied earlier this year are still interested in the position, they are welcome to reapply.

As to what requirements they are looking for in a new library director, Mr Geckle said, "Ideally, someone who has been a director or at least a very involved assistant director."

Running a library is like being the CEO of a business he explained. It has the similar structure of overseeing a budget, staff, building, grounds, and the services and products provided to the community.

"We are disappointed that we are back into the mode of searching again, but we are not going to skip a beat," Mr Geckle assured. "The board is very committed to making sure that we do everything we can to execute a search process as quickly as possible, but we'll be deliberate."

He estimates the last search for a new director took about four months and anticipates this process to fall into that same time frame.

For more information about the C.H. Booth Library, visit chboothlibrary.org.

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