McMillan Memorial Library's new director will navigate a tough budget, post-COVID-19. Here are the finalists
WISCONSIN RAPIDS - Reminding the public of a transformed McMillan Memorial Library will be a key task for its next director.
Later this month, McMillan's board will name a new director to replace retiring director Andy Barnett. This week the board began its final round of interviews with its two finalists for the position.
Andrea Galvan, the board's president, said Barnett's replacement, set to start before he retires at the end of June, will need to remind the community of the gem it has in the public library. That's especially true after the building underwent $2 million in renovations during the COVID-19 pandemic that added a makerspace, a theater and additional meeting and study rooms.
"There might be people who have not been to the library since COVID and have no idea all the changes we made," she said.
Internally, the director and the board also will need to prepare for possible spending cuts if last November's Wisconsin Rapids City Council budget talks were any indication of where funding is trending.
Council members Patrick Delaney and Matt Zacher sought an $800,000 reduction in city support for the library, representing a 66% cut. The request was unsuccessful but prompted the Library Board to hold an emergency meeting and ask that the city refrain from modifying McMillan's budget allocation until next year.
The proposal came as City Council members seek to limit borrowing for Wisconsin Rapids government funding and balance the budget. The idea of reducing the city's $1.2 million annual contribution to the library will likely return this summer as planning begins for the 2023 budget.
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Barnett has been director since 2015 and served as assistant director for over 20 years. The library received 26 applications for his position, which were narrowed to eight people and then two.
The board will make an offer to either Tina Norris or Natalie Houston in two weeks, Galvan said. Both candidates come from outside Wisconsin Rapids.
"They'll have to make it their own," Galvan said. "They'll have to learn about this area and learn about the needs of this community and how the library can best meet the needs of this community."
Here's what we know about Norris and Houston:
Tina Norris
Norris has eight years of experience as a library director across Wisconsin, Tennessee and North Carolina. She's worked as the Person County Library director in Roxboro, North Carolina, since June 2020. She spent five years as the Hudson Area Joint Library's director in Hudson, Wisconsin.
In Hudson, Norris implemented a small maker space and guided the library through two strategic plans to renew community support for the library system.
She has a degree in English literature from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and a master's degree in library and information science from the University of South Carolina. She started her library career working the circulation desk in Delano, Minnesota.
Norris told the Daily Tribune she's spent most of her career in Minnesota and Wisconsin libraries. For her, there's a difference in the level of community support for libraries. Even when she was working at Hudson, she would look at McMillan for inspiration, such as the recent addition of a maker space in the library.
"I really like how they look at the community and what the community's needs are and how they should connect with the community," Norris said. "I would really like to be a part of that."
As far as persuading city leaders to maintain support for the library, she said has experience with rallying community members around a library.
"I do think you have to tell the story. It's actually showing them what the community needs and why it's important," she said. "If it's not affecting their life, they don't recognize everything that goes on in the library."
Natalie Houston
Houston works in her hometown of Orlando, Florida, as the youth services manager for the Orange County Library System. She's worked for the library system since 2009, previously as an assistant manager and branch manager.
She started her career in Lake County, Florida, at the Leesburg Public Library working with teens.
Houston has an undergraduate degree from the University of Miami and holds a master's in library science from the University of South Florida.
She serves on the Florida Library Association board as a regional director and has been recognized by trade groups for her youth programming and mentoring.
Houston told the Daily Tribune she's always seeking to challenge herself and that she and the McMillan library board share an interest in community engagement and collaboration.
"I’m always the person that likes to be challenged and grow. Sometimes there’s a perfect job," she said. "I felt strong alignment in our approach to libraries."
She said in her current job in Orlando, Florida, she's had experience with outreach and drawing people into library maker spaces, such as the one McMillan added during the pandemic. She said she's aware of the challenges a post-pandemic world presents libraries in drawing people back into their spaces.
As for potential budget cuts, she said it's a matter of showing city leaders how the library affects their constituents.
"What I have learned from COVID is that it was a lesson in expanding and contracting," Houston said. "I think part of it is telling the story of the work the library is doing."
Contact reporter Alan Hovorka at 715-345-2252 or ahovorka@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ajhovorka.
This article originally appeared on Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune: McMillan library's new director to face tight Wisconsin Rapids budget
