Schaumburg Township Library finds new director in-house
Sparing months of time and just under $100,000 on a search, Schaumburg Township District Library trustees mutually decided they already had everything they could hope to find in a new executive director in their current deputy director.
A meeting just before Thanksgiving that began as an exploration of options to replace departing Executive Director Monica Harris ended with an offer to Deputy Director Annie Miskewitch to take up the job permanently on Dec. 12.
"She was very humbled and very surprised," library board President Anita Forte-Scott said.
Miskewitch was hired by Harris as deputy director in June 2017 after having worked at the Chicago Public Library for more than 20 years. She recently was selected to attend the American Library Association's Leadership Academy.
"I'm honored to be the next executive director at the Schaumburg Library," Miskewitch said in a written statement Tuesday. "I believe libraries should be safe, welcoming places for all to discover and learn. I'm dedicated to our library's mission, and am excited to work with our forward thinking board of trustees and staff who are all committed to meeting the needs of our community."
Harris, who also stepped up to executive director from deputy director in January 2017, announced her departure in October. Later this month she will become associate executive director of the Reaching Across Illinois Library System, or RAILS, which serves libraries throughout the northern half of the state except Chicago's.
Forte-Scott said she and the rest of the board initially expected to go through the same search process that had been used to find both Harris and her predecessor, Stephanie Sarnoff.
Having already been in touch with three potential search firms, trustees knew the monthslong process would cost between $20,000 and $30,000, Forte-Scott said. The total cost would likely be just under $100,000 due to the salary of an interim director to lead the library during the search, she added.
But after trustees identified the desired characteristics of a new director to be passed along to a search firm, Forte-Scott suggested they already had someone who fulfilled them all.
"Not one of them disagreed," she said of choosing Miskewitch. "We were beautifully in sync. ... She fits the bill."
Miskewitch will adopt her new duties the day after Harris' departure.