Library selects director
Members and volunteers for the
Whitefish Community Library are in crunch mode this month as they
count down the days until the branch officially transitions from
county to city control in July.
One important decision in the change
over has finally been made. Long-time library manager Joey Kositzky
has been hired as the new library director.
“We have come to a successful
conclusion to our negotiations,” said Michael Collins, chair of the
WCL board of trustees. “We are delighted to have Joey on board
beginning June 1 to work on the transition.”
Kositzky has lived in Whitefish for 42
years and is certified by the Montana State Library as a library
administrator. Of Kositzsky’s 27 years of library experience, 24
were spent as the Whitefish Branch library manager. Her
responsibilities will include overseeing daily operations and
planning future direction of the library.
“What has been accomplished in the
past, while important, is not as important as where we, as a
library, are going,” Kositzky said in a press release. “I believe
strongly in a community-based library. I believe in a library that
does not dictate to its community, but listens to it — one that
recognizes that national trends, appropriate in some areas, may not
necessarily apply to the Whitefish community.
“As we move forward, I hope we can
celebrate the community’s uniqueness and diversity and respond
accordingly. I feel extremely privileged to have the opportunity to
be a part of this vision.”
Utilizing a fleet of more than 70
volunteer workers last week, the library launched part of their
technology systems and connected to the state’s shared catalog.
Starting next week they’ll begin processing books into the
system.
“We have hundreds, maybe thousands of
donated books to sort through,” Collins said.
Most of the county library books
recently salvaged from recycling bins at Pacific Steel and
Recycling will be processed and placed on the library’s shelves.
Any of the books currently tagged by the county to be recycled will
also be offered to the Whitefish library, Collins noted.
“If we don’t want them,” he said,
“we’ll make them available to other libraries in the state.”
Collins says that while there are still
some points of contention between the community library and county
— notably, how to handle the 15,000 books that will stay in the
building — both sides are looking to move forward with the
transition.
“We’re ready to work side-by-side,”
Collins said.
Come opening day, the library will
likely look “half-filled” according to Collins estimates.
“There’s more than 30,000 books in
there now and we’ll have just over 15,000 left,” he said.
But given the generous nature of
Whitefish residents, he said, it won’t take long to fill up the
shelves again.
Some of the furniture in the building
now will remain on site, but numerous items have been donated to
replace what will be moved out, including desks and chairs.
The library hopes to have at least a
few computer stations up and running soon. The county will remove
the current computers, but a few tech-savvy volunteers have stepped
up to build “super-computers” that will be used to power individual
terminals.
• New Whitefish Community Library cards
are available starting June 6. All Flathead County Library Cards
will continue to be honored at the Whitefish Community Library.
• A book fair is slated for July 1-3 in
conjunction with the art fair at Depot Park. Books will be
available for purchase and can immediately be donated to the
library.
• The Library will celebrate a grand
opening July 16. There will be complimentary food, entertainment
and local author appearances at the Whitefish Community Library
grounds.