Naperville will soon name library director

Naperville Public Library officials have carefully narrowed down a list of 30 candidates and the hiring of a new director appears imminent.

Board President Sun Kwok said Monday evening that that board will have decided on 15-year Director Donna Dziedzic’s successor by Wednesday.

“It has been a difficult process because every single candidate was highly qualified,” Kwok said. “We’ll meet in executive session one more time (Tuesday) and have our decision made and ready to announce at Wednesday’s meeting.”

Kwok declined to say how many finalists the board was considering and whether the favorites were local.

“I don’t want to taint the process in any way and don’t want to be unfair to anyone,” he said. “I will tell you Naperville Public Library has been rated the best public library in the country and qualified people have come from near and far to be a part of that story.”

Dziedzic announced last fall that she would be retiring in June, ending a 15-year career heading a library that was named the best of its size in the country for 10 consecutive years in the Hennen’s American Public Library Ratings, which look at more than 8,000 libraries.

The board will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Nichols Library.