With this newsletter column, I will be turning over the position of interim library director to our new full-time director, Tom Simiele, who joins us in April. I've had the pleasure of speaking to him both in person and by extensive email correspondence during our lengthy candidate assessment. I can say with confidence that Tom has the creative vision and the practical ability to lead the Pasadena Public Library in a whole new chapter of service. I'd like to tell you a little bit about him and why I feel so positive about his choice for this position.

 

For starters, Tom was the unanimous choice at all levels of the vetting process. We had an impressive candidate field to choose from, and when all was said and done, he was clearly the choice of the initial library screening committee, the Library Board and Mayor Isbell, who makes all final decisions regarding department leadership. You don't impress that many interested people unless you have something worth sharing, and Tom Simiele certainly does.

 

From a family replete with librarians, he followed a path in law for many years but eventually decided his heart was more drawn to the community library experience. He understands well a community must be served by the library if we expect it to be supported by the community.

 

His approach to technology in serving library patrons is pragmatic, stressing its use is an evolutionary process that must be embraced to keep up with library users' habits and needs. That same pragmatism is reflected in a very "bottom line" style of thinking that refuses to run down the same worn paths that wind up at the wrong destination. Considering himself to be more manager than traditional librarian, his goal is to make it as easy and cost-effective as possible to let great ideas rise from staff suggestions, and his own observations, into work-a-day reality on the floor.  

 

During his interview visit, he took the opportunity to spend time in an informal-and witty--question and answer session with library staff and Library Board members, as well as Friends of the Library board members. From their reaction, it appears Tom will slip comfortably into a productive working relationship with them with relative ease. It's not that he doesn't have his own ideas about how to improve the library...he surely does. It's just that he has developed the ability to understand and acknowledge the needs of all participants and realizes we'll arrive at a positive conclusion sooner with everyone rowing in the same direction.

 

This may all sound a bit like uncritical praise, but having been through the entire hiring process from start to finish, I can honestly say that Tom Simiele was the best choice among many outstanding choices to lead our library in the years ahead. I look forward to working with him as he brings fresh ideas and infectious enthusiasm to his role as Director of the Pasadena Public Library.

 

I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank our wonderful library staff members and managers who, over the past many months, have made my job in this interim role one of the most enriching and enjoyable experiences I've had in my 12 years with the City of Pasadena. Thanks, too, to the Pasadena Library Board and Friends of the Library whose keen interest in supporting the library's mission was evident at all times, and to Mayor Johnny Isbell for the opportunity to share in this wonderful experience we call "the library" from the inside.

 

Wayne D Holt
Publications Manager, City of Pasadena