Director named for library district
Las Vegas' libraries have a new leader.
Jeanne Goodrich will take over for Daniel Walters, who is retiring after more than a decade as executive director of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District.
It is, apparently, a plum job within the library community.
District board chairwoman Frances Barron said 140 people applied for the job.
"We were just looking for someone who is a solid, solid leader," she said.
Goodrich, 59, is currently a library consultant. She operates her own company, which she started a decade ago, but has had decades of experience working directly for large and small library districts.
Goodrich said she "missed being affiliated with a top-notch library."
"This job opened up and I went for it," she said.
Goodrich was chosen Saturday over two other finalists who also were brought in for interviews. She has lived in Oregon since 1990, when she took over as the deputy director of the Multnomah County Library in Portland.
She served in that post for 11 years. She has been operating her consulting business full time since then.
Before that, she was a librarian in San Francisco and the assistant state librarian in Nevada, among other jobs.
In her consulting work, she has worked with systems across the country, large and small, including in Las Vegas.
"She brings so much experience from every large library in the United States," Barron said.
She said Goodrich helped write the district's master plan a decade ago.
The details of Goodrich's contract -- salary and start date among them -- have yet to be worked out. The salary range for the position is between $132,683.20 and $181,542.40, district spokeswoman Pat Marvel said.
Goodrich said she anticipates starting sometime near June, when Walters is set to retire.
She said her top priority for now will be to maintain services in an increasingly busy time for public libraries.
"Every library in the country is facing revenue challenges," she said. "Demand always goes up in a recession."
She called the Las Vegas district well managed, but heavily dependent on property taxes.
The district recently opened the Centennial Hills library, the first new library since 1997. It has another library planned in the southwest, but an opening date has not been announced.
Contact reporter Richard Lake at rlake@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307.
