New trustee appointed to Gail Borden library board

The Gail Borden Public Library Board now has two members who were appointed after they ran in the last election.

Tiffany Henderson's appointment Tuesday night follows the resignation of board member Penny Wegman, who was elected to the Kane County Board last year.

Wegman resigned effective June 13, saying she'll focus on her county board duties and "other interests." She was a fiscally conservative board member who often cast the lone "no" vote.

Three library board members were elected in April. The highest vote-getters behind them were Amanda Garcia, appointed in May to a seat vacant since winter, and Henderson, who works as an attorney and serves as vice president of the library's foundation.

"I'm absolutely delighted," board member Patricia Harkin said. "Tiffany brings a kind of expertise on the board that we don't have right now. And she loves the library."

Henderson said she's excited and grateful at the opportunity to serve.

"They could have decided to go another way and they didn't," she said. "I am looking forward to being able to work with everyone and figuring out how we can better help the library and its people."

Henderson said she moved in April from South Elgin to Bartlett, making sure she remained within the library district because her kids enjoy it so much. Figuring out how to better keep younger users informed of programming is among her priorities, she said.

"Especially the teenagers and the kids in the house, they're not going to read those (library) newsletters," she said, "so how can we actually communicate the information to them?"

Harkin said she's happy the seven-member board is more diverse with the addition of Henderson, who is black. The other six members are white.

"A library of this size, in a city with this population distribution, should have a racially diverse board," she said.