Library board continues system director search

VAN BUREN — The Crawford County Library Board decided last week to continue its search for someone to lead its library system despite already interviewing two finalists for the position.

The Library Board voted to go into executive session to discuss hiring people for the library system director and adviser positions — as well as the salaries for those jobs — at a special meeting Tuesday, according to an audio recording of the meeting.

Tammi Hamby, board chairwoman, said the board decided to meet as an ad hoc committee to conduct two more interviews for the director seat before making a decision. She said the committee would do the interviews after the Library Board voted 2-2 to adjourn the meeting, with her casting the tie-breaking vote.

Board members Kaelin Schaper and Kayla Rich voted for ending the meeting while Robbie Dyer and Keith Pigg voted against it.

“I just want to get everybody interviewed that’s applied,” Schaper said.

The board interviewed finalists Charlene McDonnough and Cynthia Morrison in executive session at its meeting Nov. 14. Hamby similarly said afterward the board had opted to wait to make a decision on the matter.

The agenda for Tuesday’s 5:30 p.m. meeting stated there would be an “executive session to hire director and adviser.” However, Hamby said she had a Zoom interview set up with two other applicants at 6 p.m. She explained to those attending the meeting the board kept the director seat open for applications due to not having picked a final candidate.

“They have not been vetted,” Pigg said. “They have not been interviewed the first time. It’s not for the executive session to do that. That would have to be done by the ad hoc committee.”

Eva White, the interim director, said in response to a Freedom of Information Act request Wednesday, one of the new candidates had withdrawn. This leaves one additional candidate left — Meghan Cyr.

THE CURRENT CANDIDATES

The Library System announced Nov. 6 the Library Board would meet in executive session to interview applicants for both the system director and adviser positions. White has said six people applied for the director job while one person — White herself — applied for the adviser role.

The adviser is a part-time position responsible for supervising and advising the new director, according to an advertisement on the system website. Although the adviser would have to be willing to invest more time as needed initially, the person in that role won’t be required to devote as much time as the director becomes more knowledgeable and comfortable with their position.

White has said the adviser will only be in place temporarily to train the new director. The director position has a yearly salary range of $40,000 to $80,000. A salary for the adviser hasn’t been set yet.

The Library Board worked on the job descriptions for the adviser and director positions during a meeting Sept. 25, according to the minutes of that meeting. One change it made to the qualifications for the director job was the successful applicant would have to be willing to work toward and obtain a master’s degree in library science from a college or university accredited by the American Library Association within two years.

An official description for the position lists such a degree as one of its requirements.

Hamby said Nov. 14 the Library Board made the changes to attract more applicants for the director job.

Cyr has a master’s degree in library science from the University of Arizona in Tucson, as well as both master and bachelor of business administration degrees from the University of Redlands in Redlands, Calif., according to her resume. She also has an associate’s degree in general studies from Mesa Community College in Arizona.

Cyr is the youth services manager for the Tempe Public Library in Arizona, a position she’s held since 2021, her resume states. Her previous experience with the Tempe Public Library includes being a teen services supervisor from 2019-21, and a teen services and adult services librarian at different points from 2018-19.

McDonnough has a master of library and information science degree in library science from the University of South Carolina, according to her application material. She has a bachelor of science degree in elementary education from Francis Marion University in Florence, S.C., and an associate’s degree in information management from the Community College of the Air Force at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala., as well.

McDonnough is a program technician for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency in Fort Smith. However, she was branch manager for the Society Hill Library in Darlington County, S.C., from March 2012 to December 2022 and was adult services outreach librarian in the Darlington County Library System for almost eight years beforehand.

Morrison has a master of science degree in information science from the University of Texas in Austin and a bachelor’s degree in art history from the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Morrison has been a parttime library assistant for the Crawford County Library System since October 2021, her resume states. Before that, she was a reference librarian for the Joe Barnhart Bee County Library in Beeville, Texas, from 2011 to 2013, library director for the same library from July 2013 to September 2015 and information technology consultant for the Bee County Chamber of Commerce from September 2015 to November 2015.

A COMPLEX HISTORY

Deidre Grzymala left the director’s position on Feb. 24 as part of a separation agreement between her, Crawford County, the system and the Van Buren Public Library. White was appointed interim director the same day.

This happened after the Library Board dealt with challenges from residents saying multiple children’s books had lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning subject matter at its Nov. 8, 2022, meeting, according to meeting material.

The River Valley City Elders, a local Christian community organization, requested people in a Dec. 13 newsletter to stand with Jeffrey Hamby — Tammi Hamby’s husband — as he spoke to the Quorum Court on Dec. 19 regarding his concerns about these sorts of books being purchased with taxpayer money and displayed at the Van Buren Public Library.

Jeffrey and Tammi Hamby had also outlined their grievances on the subject in a letter dated Nov. 10, 2022, addressed to the Quorum Court, then-Crawford County Judge Dennis Gilstrap and current County Judge Chris Keith.

The Hambys argued the constitutional rights of parents and their religious liberties were being subverted by a “progressive woke ideology” driven by Grzymala and her employees. They claimed the ideology was “normalizing and equating homosexual and transsexual lifestyles with heterosexual family units” without parental consent or the ability to not participate.

Grzymala said at the board’s Jan. 10 meeting all branches moved their LGBTQ children’s books from the children’s section to a new area within their respective adult book sections. This came after the Quorum Court discussed the library and a compromise regarding the material at its Dec. 19 meeting.

A few Crawford County residents filed a civil-rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in May in response to the books being moved, according to court records. A bench trial for the case has been set for April 22 in Fort Smith.