Copyright Baton Rouge Advocate
As the Livingston Parish library board narrows down candidates for a new director, it's up in the air if the search is coming to a close or will have to keep going. The Livingston Parish Library Board of Control interviewed two director candidates on Friday as part of its search for a new library system leader, marking its third director shakeup in the past three years. Board members asked about how they would handle budget cuts, reviewing book content, and being a liaison to the community and parish government. But a sole finalist hasn't publicly emerged after the day of interviews. After interviews, library board members could not give an answer as to what would happen next, but board member Jonathan Davis did say there could potentially be a special board meeting held within the month. If a board member wants a candidate for director, it could be added to an agenda, he said, or the search will continue with potential small tweaks to the application. "We would pick one or open applications back up," he said. "Lowering the (application) requirements isn't going to happen." The search for a new director comes after the Livingston Parish president and the library board voted in July not to renew former library director Michelle Parrish's contract. This vote is currently being questioned by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill for potentially violating the Open Meetings Law. Notably, the library director candidates interviewed live outside of Livingston Parish and have not worked in the parish library system. The library's interim director, Kyla Robertson Webb, also did not apply. This is a stark contrast from previous appointed directors, like Parrish and her predecessor, Giovanni Tairov. Originally, three candidates were supposed to be interviewed until one dropped out of the race the day before the interviews. Davis said the library narrowed down candidates from a pool of around 30 applicants. Four members of the board interviewed Na'Chel Shannon, library director of the South Mississippi Regional Library in Columbia, Mississippi, and Leslie Sam, head librarian of Nunez Community College in Chalmette. Budgets and books Questions about library budget and handling content in books took precedent at the interviews — a direct reflection of the two most contentious topics that have embroiled the Livingston Parish library in turmoil for the past few years. While Board President Jennifer Dorhauer said the questions were created by previous board members for the last director's interview, many questions were still relevant to the current relationship between the library and parish. Dorhauer asked the candidates about how they would handle certain scenarios, like what they would do if the library's millage tax were rolled back or how they would prepare library staff for budget cuts. "How would you go about handling a situation where a single elected official publicly advocates cuts to both the operating budget and millage of the library system?" Dorhauer asked. If a director is picked before the end of the year, one of the first — and largest — tasks they will have to manage is getting the library board to approve a budget for the next operating year. This was a contentious process last year that dominated board meetings for months. Some community members wanted the budget cut to roll back the millage, while others advocated for the budget to stay at the proposed amount. Davis said interview questions like these are tailored to find the best candidate for the job and that they do "want someone with a financial background," but that candidates should have that from their master's degree in library and information science. "The MLIS degree covers a huge part of that ... most of the people coming in have had budget experience," he said. Other questions included how directors would handle book content and people's requests to move books based on specific types of content, which is what kicked off the parish library commotion years ago. However, Davis said, the parish librarians' reading thousands of young adult materials to check for explicit content will have helped a future director's job in handling scenarios dealing with reconsidering content.
