Assistant librarian in Nahant takes over as interim director

NAHANT – Public Library Trustees have appointed Assistant Librarian Irene Purdy as interim library director while they conduct a search to replace retired Director Dan deStefano.”I’m more apprehensive than anything. Dan’s a tough act to follow,” Purdy said earlier this week. “I’m better at the paperwork than him, but he’s a great boss, I’m going to miss him.”DeStefano retired at the end of December after more than 21 years as Library Director.Board of Library Trustees Chairman John Welsh said Purdy has been running the library since that time, and also had experience running the library for extended times when deStefano was ill.”People can be assured she’ll be on top of everything,” Welsh wrote in an e-mail announcing the change.The trustees have begun searching for deStefano’s replacement, Welsh said.He said the trustees have received about 30 to 40 applications from all over the country and world – one came from Helsinki, Finland – and the applicants have a range of ages and experience levels.He said that once they felt they had received a good selection of resumes, the trustees would review applications and select finalists to start interviewing.He predicted the search would take about six months.Welsh said the most important thing for the future library director will be to balance the historical building and atmosphere with patrons’ demands for technology.”Everybody appreciates the way that the library looks inside and out, but they want the modern services,” Welsh said. “We have to have Wi-fi, we have to have computers. It’s balancing those things.”Purdy said she was curious to see what the future library director will make of the building, describing it as “a trip.””It’s cold in the winter, you die in the winter because there’s no insulation,” she said. “It needs to be brought up-to-date to protect the collection.”Meanwhile, she said that her goal was to keep the building running smoothly.”For me, it’s doing my job and keeping the boat afloat until we get a new captain,” Purdy said.Cyrus Moulton may be reached at [email protected]