Library Board Selects New Director

Mar 26, 2008 by Elizabeth Ziegler

(KCPW News) Beth Elder, from the Denver Public Library system, says she's ecstatic about being chosen to lead the Salt Lake City Library. She says Salt Lake's libraries are lauded as some of the most dynamic and innovative in the country, and the interview process highlighted this.

"I found the board highly engaged and warm and I found the staff incredibly creative and committed to serving the community," Elder says. "And I also found a lot of community members interested in being a part of this process. And those kinds of things really made a big difference for me."

Elder will replace retired director Nancy Tessman, who led the library when it earned the national Library of the Year award in 2006. Tessman retired in June of last year. A previous search for her replacement failed to find a suitable candidate. It was a difficult decision, says Library Board Chairwoman Helen Rollins, but Elder stood out.

"It sounds really pretty corny, but for me, and for many of us, Beth is a librarian in the best, purest most positive sense of the word," Rollins says.

Elder's first day on the job is April 28. She says she'll start out her tenure there in a manner befitting a librarian: She'll listen and learn.

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