Geneva library names director
The Geneva library board went in-house Thursday night to replace retiring library director Jeanne Hintz.
It hired assistant director Matt Teske.
Teske, of Carol Stream, has worked for the Geneva Public Library since March 2006. Before that, he worked for the Glenside Public Library in Glendale Heights.
Teske, 37, will take over Jan. 14 for Hintz, who has worked for the library for 21 years, 20 of them as director.
"I grew up loving this environment," said Teske, recalling how as a child in an area without a library district in then-rural Beecher in Will County, his parents bought a library card for the Chicago Heights library and his mom drove the kids there.
"Whatever my interest was (including airplanes and sports), there was something there," he said.
Teske has a master's degree in library science from Dominican University in River Forest, and a bachelor's degree in political science and German from Elmhurst College.
It was an EC professor who suggested he think about working in libraries, after finding out Teske had worked at the circulation desk of the Elmhurst Public Library while attending college. It was at that library Teske met his wife, who was a youth services librarian.
The Geneva library employs up to 80 people full and part time; about 30 are seasonal workers, in the summer and over college breaks.
The library, founded in 1894, had $3.5 million in major expenditures during the fiscal year that ended June 30, and $3.9 million in revenues ($3.7 million of which came from property taxes.) It has 25,669 registered patrons, and they checked out almost 550,000 items. Its building at 127 James St. turns 100 years old in 2008.
Major issues Teske will face are the library's search for a site for a larger building, and two lawsuits with the Batavia Public Library over land the Batavia library annexed west of Randall Road that Geneva library officials contend is within its planning area.
Hintz announced her intent to retire in the summer. The library received 13 applications for the post.
"I could not be more pleased," Hintz said.