Mayor Langfelder wants to appoint Summer Griffith as director of Lincoln Library

Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder has advanced the appointment of Summer Griffith as Lincoln Library's permanent director.

The appointment was on the city council's agenda Tuesday. It is a "first reading" with a vote expected in July.

Griffith was expected to give a presentation on the library at Tuesday's meeting like a number of other department heads.

Griffith has served as acting director since Feb. 10.

Griffith, 40, joined the library as the community engagement manager in 2020 after working in Kansas City, Missouri.

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The library's former director, Rochelle Hartman, was fired Jan. 20 after two and a half years.

Following Hartman's dismissal, Ward 8 Ald. Erin Conley expressed concerned the library needed someone with "professional knowledge and background to manage all the moving parts that go into keeping a healthy library system."

Earlier Tuesday, Conley reiterated those concerns.

"My priority is that we have someone who has a strong background in library sciences which includes formal education to lead the library," Conley said. "We see that libraries and book issues have been topics in the news lately and I think it's important we ensure that we have someone who has gone through significant formal training and has practical hands-on experience to run a library for a system as large as ours.

"There are all sorts of conversations around books and access to those materials and the role of the library in a community. We need to acknowledge that's there."

Earlier this month, a Hillsdale, Michigan librarian resigned following a failed book ban that sought to remove LGBTQ books from the children’s section of the library.

The American Library Association reported it tracked nearly 1,600 books last year that were either challenged or removed from library, school and university materials, including Maia Kobabe's 2019 illustrated memoir "Gender Queer."

Langfelder said it isn't mandatory for the director to have a library science degree and how Griffith has dealt with different segments of the public more than qualifies her.

"I look at the person and their qualifications and she has a broad background," he insisted. "She's dealt with people with mental illness. She's done a fabulous job with the homeless and setting parameters and structure. That's what they've lacked. She's made it an improved environment from that standpoint.

"The best part of her is how she engaged the public. It doesn't matter if you're a CEO or an elected official or a student or someone on the streets, she treats them all the same and knows how to handle difficult situations."

Asked if not having that degree might move city council members to vote a certain way, Langfelder said each person "has to decide for himself or herself, but if I'm a city council member, I'm voting for her just because what she brings to the table."

Conley countered that while she wasn't questioning the dedication or contributions Griffith, "it's just that, in my opinion, what's best for the library is someone with those deep qualifications.

"If you look at our library, it's a focal point of our community and, yes, there are social issues that are lived out every day in the building. There's a lot to manage there, but we want to make sure that remains a place that provides the quality in-depth services that we've come to expect from a library."

Langfelder always said it was his "personal preference to look within the library" in identifying the next director.

In a library board meeting following Hartman's dismissal, Langfelder told the trustees that one of the concerns at the library was "individuals leaving or potentially leaving, and that was a tipping point of sorts."

While Langfelder didn't clarify if he was referring to Hartman, she did acknowledge she started looking for other positions "for various reasons."

Hartman was a finalist for the director's position at the Davenport (Iowa) Public Library in December.

Hartman was making $87,000 annually at the time of her firing, though she told The State Journal-Register she was making $20,000 to $30,000 less annually than some of her counterparts.

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Griffith would make $94,000 if her appointment is approved by the city council next month.

Lincoln Library is a department of the city, with around 40 full-time and part-time employees. It has an annual budget of a little over $5.4 million.

Griffith's family moved to Springfield when she was 10. She is a graduate of Springfield High School.

Griffith is trained in trauma informed care and de-escalation. She has a master of arts degree and a bachelor of arts degree, both in communications, from the University of Illinois Springfield.

Griffith and her husband, Matthew Griffith, a critical care nurse at Springfield Memorial Hospital, live in Springfield and have two children.

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Springfield Mayor wants to make library's acting director permanent