Difficult choice expected for new library director

The three candidates for the executive director's job at the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District were feted by the Board of Trustees Thursday evening at a reception, the day before the trio will be interviewed for the position that was left vacant when the previous director left during a storm of controversy.

The board may have difficulty making a selection from the three, says acting director Carl Rowe.

"They are among the best in the country," he said.

The finalists, narrowed down from a list that began with about 75, are:

He also was director of the El Paso (Texas) Public Library.

Sannwald was city librarian in San Diego from 1979 to 1997.

The district serves 1.1 million people and has 33 branches in addition to the central library.

Sannwald has an extensive economics background. He has a bachelor's degree in economics from Beloit College in Wisconsin, a master's in business administration from Loyola University in Chicago and a master's in library science from Dominican University in Illinois.

He is a former president of the 4,000-member Library Administration and Management Association and has chaired the American Library Association's Architecture for Public Libraries Section.

Sannwald teaches courses in marketing and management at San Diego State University.

Walters became director of the Buffalo library in 1995 after spending most of his career in Washington, his home state.

He was director of the Spokane (Wash.) Public Library from 1989 to 1995.

Walters has a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in library science.

He began his career in 1976 as a librarian in the North Central Regional Library in Wenatchee, Wash.

Walters claims extensive experience in public and private fund-raising.

He helped pass a $100-million library bond issue in Spokane, the largest library bond issue in King County history and the largest city bond issue in Spokane history.

What the new executive director will take charge of is a district that is growing as rapidly as the community it serves.

Rowe says projections show the library district, which has 540 employees, will double in size in the next 10 years.

In the 10-year-period between 1987 and 1997, the annual operating budget increased almost six-fold, from $5.8 million to $29.5 million.

During that same period the population served by the district almost doubled, from 480,517 to 914,845, and the circulation of items in the library went from 2.05 million to 5.2 million.

The number of registered library patrons increased from almost 160,000 to almost 600,000.

The library system is keeping pace with the latest technology, with an automated circulation system that links 12 urban branch libraries and 11 outlying branches.

Card holders can access the on-line catalog at their home or office through the library's web site (www.lvccld.lib.nv.us).

Internet access is available to the public in all urban branches.

The district has four theaters, two museums, an amphitheater, two auditoriums, 15 art galleries, a lecture hall and a concert hall.

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