Roselle welcomes new library director

Roselle Public Library has a new leader.

Lisa Poignant, who recently moved to Roselle with her husband, Dean, and their four children, has taken over as executive director.

She replaces Ken Gross, who retired after holding the post for six years. His last day was Friday.

Poignant started this week. She was chosen from a pool of five candidates.

"She was the candidate that stood out among the five. We thought she was the best qualified," library board President Sharon Hitzemann said.

Poignant has more than 15 years experience in the public library field, including stints in administration, circulation and reference. She came to Roselle after spending the past seven years as director at the Chillicothe Public Library, north of Peoria.

The library board also liked that Poignant has experience in running a successful referendum campaign and experience in building project management, long-range planning and budgeting.

The Roselle facility is quickly outgrowing its space and will need a leader with those skills, Hitzemann said. The library is not asking voters for a tax increase in the near future, but it could eventually become a topic of discussion.

Poignant said she's excited about moving to Roselle and her new position. She doesn't plan to make major changes anytime soon.

"I just want to get acclimated before I make any changes," Poignant said. "I need to see how everything is operating. But I've done a lot with grant writing and marketing, so I would like to pursue that a little bit more."

Poignant has a master's degree in library information science from the Dominican University in River Forest and a bachelor's degree in history and archaeology from the University of North Dakota.

She won the 2005 Library Journal Movers and Shakers Award and is a member of the Illinois Library Association.