SWAMPSCOTT — The town’s new library director, Jonathan Nichols, is set to start next week, filling the position on a permanent basis for the first time since Alyce Deveau’s retirement in October 2021.
The trustees announced the names of three candidates, which were forwarded to the town administrator, who interviewed them and made a recommendation for a new hire to the Select Board.
“Alyce has been our library director since 1997 I think, and she has retired, and it is a responsibility of the Board of Trustees to come up with three candidates for the new director,” said Assistant Director of Swampscott Public Library Susan Conner.
Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald and the Select Board then narrowed it down to their final choice for the position, said Conner. She explained that since Deveau’s retirement last fall, the trustees had advertised and appointed an interim director, Jennifer Inglis, who ended up taking another position. As the assistant director, Conner “started doing what needed to be done” in her absence.
“Ms. Inglis has moved on, and the interim director position has been vacant since then,” said Conner.
The trustees’ meeting discussed the preparations that were made to welcome the new director, to “help organize him,” as one of the trustees Tript Sembhi put it. These preparations included preparing and cleaning up the workplace for him and selecting the areas he should focus on for the initial phase of his work.
“Alyce kept all those things, but now Jonathan will not have this background,” said Conner.
The three areas of focus include closing the fiscal year 2022 budget, personnel matters, and the library masterplan which refers to the 2020 Library Planning and Programming Report which is a working document for improvements to the library building. This masterplan had been discussed in a previous meeting.
Other issues that the new director might have to deal with is a new provider for the library website because the current library provider stopped delivering site hosting services, said Conner. The library is in the process of choosing between three companies, one of which has also delivered services to the town.
It’s not yet clear the exact time of the new director’s arrival, and another pressing issue includes buying new furniture for the library. The attendees of the meeting thanked Conner for her service as assistant director, and she thanked “all the people in the library” who “have all done extra shifts.”
“From the bottom of our hearts, you have been above and beyond,” said Ellen Winkler, one of the trustees.
Oksana Kotkina can be reached at [email protected].
