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New Huntley library director starts April 21

The Huntley Area Public Library District has a new director.

The library board recently hired Frank Novak, formerly director of Rockford Public Library, to take the helm April 21.

Novak has extensive background in library science, law and accounting. He will be Huntley library's fourth director in 25 years.

“I am excited about my new job as director of the Huntley Area Public Library District and I am honored to have been chosen for the position,” Novak said in a news release. “I look forward to working closely with the trustees and staff to make the library the best it can be.”

Huntley library has been without a full-time director since last November, said spokesman Doug Cataldo.

Former director Patrick McDonald left to pursue other goals. “We had two interims in (his) place,” Cataldo said.

During Novak's more than eight years as Rockford Public Library's executive director, he oversaw operations of a seven-location library system serving more than 152,000 patrons. He helped establish a technology and cultural arts center with a 280-seat theater, and was instrumental in completing a $4.7 million building project for a 23,000-square-foot branch library without a tax increase or referendum, officials said.

The Huntley Area Public Library District, located at 11000 Ruth Road, serves roughly 39,000 people in all of Huntley, portions of Algonquin and Lake in the Hills, and parts of Grafton and Rutland townships. The district has more than 25,000 library cards in circulation, Cataldo said.

Cataldo added, officials have nothing planned in the near future in terms of expansion or renovation of the library, nor a referendum for future tax increase.

Novak previously served as executive director for Ela Area Public Library District in Lake Zurich, director of Freeport Public Library, and director of the Oregon, Ill., Public Library for a combined 20 years. He studied accounting at Augustana College in Rock Island, law at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and library science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

“It was Frank's successes and ability to meet the challenges faced as a library director that led the board of trustees to select him to become the next leader of the Huntley Area Public Library District,” Huntley library board President Jan Schadt said in the news release. “His education and leadership experience was also very important to the board.”

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