Susan Hildreth, who has been serving as San Francisco’s acting city librarian since February 2000, has gotten the nod from Mayor Willie Brown to fill the slot permanently. The position has been open since Regina Minudri suffered a major stroke in May 1999.
Officials had considered conducting a national search to fill the position, the San Francisco Chronicle reported March 22, but with the library in the midst of a $106-million branch-renovation project, library commissioners recommended that Brown appoint Hildreth.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco board of supervisors voted 6–5 March 19 to reject a plan to hire a collection agency to retrieve library materials that were 60 days or more overdue. The Chronicle said March 20 that opponents called the approach excessive, and that the supervisors were concerned over union opposition. Although Hildreth had said that labor didn’t object to the idea, union representatives testified against it at the board meeting. Board President Tom Ammiano asked that the unions’ official position be clarified before a final vote is taken on the plan the following week.
The library loses some 25,000 items a year at a cost of about $500,000.
Posted March 26, 2001.