By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
The board of the Princeton Public Library on Tuesday hired a Los Angeles and Denver-based search firm to find a replacement for retiring executive director Leslie Burger.
Library Strategies International received a contract for $23,000, one week after Ms. Burger announced that she would step down in January after 16 years. A company representative could not be reached for comment.
Board president Kiki Jamieson said Wednesday that the firm has “extensive” national experience. The firm has done searches for libraries around the country, including those in the college towns of Boulder, Colorado and Berkeley, California.
This summer, representatives of the company will travel to Princeton to meet with the full library board to get a sense of what the board wants in the next director. That visit, due to take place sometime in July, will include meeting with library staff and other community stakeholders, Ms. Jamieson said.
The vacancy will be advertised widely, with the firm winnowing applicants to a short list of candidates that will be presented to a subcommittee of the library board and then to the full board.
“It is an open, competitive national search; we want to attract the best candidates,” Ms. Jamieson said.
She and the board will have to vote to choose the next director. Officials want to offer the job to someone by the end of the year, to give Ms. Burger’s replacement time to leave his or her current job and make a smooth transition, Ms. Jamieson said.
Ms. Burger is looking to leave by Jan.15 but has said that date is flexible.
