Fox River Grove gets new library director

The Fox River Grove Memorial Library will have a new director beginning May 1 after current director Karolyn Nance leaves to take the helm of the Bartlett Public Library District.

Nance, who lives in Fox Lake, has served in her current post since January 2006. Her last day in Fox River Grove is April 27, and on April 30 she will begin her job as executive director in Bartlett.

Nance said she recently earned an MBA degree, which prompted her to want to move her career forward. She also holds a master’s in library science. “My goals was to ultimately be a director of a large public library. Fox River Grove was a great learning experience for me because it was smaller and I had to do everything,” she said. “I will take all my skills combined with the MBA knowledge that I gathered to really make an effective difference in Bartlett.”

Linda Stoppenbach, of Camp Lake, Wis., will be the new library director in Fox River Grove with a starting salary of $55,000 plus benefits, said library board Vice President Sarah Edwards, who chaired the search committee.

Stoppenbach was director of the public library district in Justice, Ill., from 1992 to 1995, and then worked as a reference librarian at the Round Lake Area Public Library from 1997 to 2002, Edwards said.

For the last decade, Stoppenbach was a stay-at-home mom who also volunteered as an emergency medical technician for the local township’s fire and rescue, as well as assistant finance director for the Kenosha chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Edwards said.

“She seemed to be very strong with financial experience. I think her personality will be a great fit with our existing staff,” library board President Lauren Rosenthal said. “We’re a seven-member board and everyone of us is a mom. We certainly understand that at some stages you have to take time off to focus on family.”

Rosenthal said Stoppenbach is aware that the Fox River Grove library and its counterpart in Cary have begun preliminary discussions about consolidating the two districts. Such a move would first have to be approved by voters in both library districts.

Stoppenbach was not immediately available for comment.