The new acting director of Lincoln Library says she may not have a college degree in library science, but her education and experience in government and the nonprofit world will serve her and the library’s patrons well.
“My skills set … lends itself to what is asked of the library director at Lincoln Library,” acting director Summer Beck-Griffith told Illinois Times on Feb. 11, the day after her selection by Mayor Jim Langfelder was announced.
Beck-Griffith, 39, replaces Rochelle Hartman, 59, who was fired by the mayor Jan. 20 for what the mayor and his spokeswoman, Julia Frevert, called “previously documented employee issues,” as well as “quality and qualified” staff leaving the library and Hartman’s lack of a long-term commitment to remaining director.
Hartman, whose hiring was approved by the Springfield City Council in August 2019, disputed many of the criticisms. She faulted the mayor for a lack of direction and coaching amid longstanding challenges facing the library and “deeply challenging personnel issues” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hartman was hired at an annual salary of $85,000 per year and was making about $87,500 when she was dismissed, she said.
Beck-Griffith, 39, who joined the library’s staff in August 2020 as community engagement manager and was paid $56,100 per year before being promoted, will be the first director of the library without a master’s in information and library science – a common educational path for librarians. She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communications, both from University of Illinois Springfield.
But Beck-Griffith said it’s not an uncommon scenario for big-city libraries to have a director without a library degree.
She will be paid $87,500 annually. Frevert said Langfelder plans to reassess the library’s operations and consider submitting Beck-Griffith’s name for council approval as permanent director within six months.
“I had the opportunity to speak with over 20 staff members, and after hearing their feedback, I felt the strongest direction to move the library forward was hiring from within,” Langfelder said in a news release. “Summer has vast experience in community and partnership engagement, program management and operations, people development and communications.”
Arden Lang, president of the library’s board of trustees – an advisory group – said the board looks forward to working with Beck-Griffith and offering “our support and counsel to her and the entire staff of the library.
“The board is fully committed to the mayor’s vision of offering and expanding service throughout the entire community,” Lang said.
Beck-Griffith said she soon will name an assistant director who has a master’s in library science. That person will handle most day-to-day operations of the library, she said.
Beck-Griffith said she also has elevated Curtis Mann, a librarian in charge of Lincoln Library’s Sangamon Valley Collection, to the new position of Springfield historian.
The new title, which comes with a pay increase for Mann, recognizes his expertise and sets in motion what Beck-Griffith said will be an expanded role for Mann at the library and potentially more staff for the collection.
As a separate department in Springfield’s city government that is overseen by the mayor, Lincoln Library, 326 S. Seventh St., is unusual among downstate libraries governed by an elected library board and supported by local property tax revenues.
Beck-Griffith in the past worked as a press assistant for Democratic governors Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn and later in Kansas City, Missouri, as chief operations officer and programs director at a K-12 mentoring-based after-school program and summer camp. She said her experience with government and with low-income populations in need of services will help her work to expand the library’s services in the community and strive to improve its funding.
She said she agreed with Hartman’s statements that Lincoln Library, which receives money through the city budget, rather than property tax revenues, is underfunded for its size and lacks services that other downstate libraries offer, such as branch libraries and a bookmobile.
The library has about 40 staff members and an annual budget of around $5 million.
A $200,000 to $300,000 bookmobile project is in the works, to be funded from a $1 million endowment to the library, Beck-Griffith said. One of her goals is to bring more library services to Springfield’s neighborhoods.
Beck-Griffith said she also plans to work on ways the library can improve library services and mental-health services for the homeless people and other low-income residents of the city.
Born in the state of Oregon and living in Springfield since she was 10, Beck-Griffith graduated from Springfield High School in 2000. She and her husband, Matthew Griffith, a critical-care nurse at Springfield Memorial Hospital, live in Springfield and have two children, ages 5 and 7.
“I am deeply committed to building on the incredible legacy of Lincoln Library and looking forward to addressing the needs of the Springfield community now and in the future,” she said. “I am excited to continue to build meaningful relationships with the community, strive to bring equal access to resources for all and look for innovative ways to service the people of Springfield,” she said.
“I grew up coming to the Lincoln Library, and now my children love it,” she said. “I couldn’t be more honored to step into this new and exciting role, and to face the many challenges that await.”
Dean Olsen, a senior staff writer with Illinois Times, can be reached at dolsen@illinoistimes.com or 217-679-7810.
This article appears in Thousand-Year Statehouse.
