The Oak Park library’s board of trustees has chosen Koya Partners to search for a replacement for former Oak Park Public Library Executive Director Joslyn Bowling Dixon, who was fired in March.
Koya Partners is a nonprofit executive search firm based in Chicago that will present the library board with executive director candidates. The last library executive director search was only about two years ago, when Dixon was hired.
All board members – except for Madhurima Chakraborty, who abstained from the vote, saying she was not present for both candidate interviews – voted to work with Koya Partners.
The other candidate interviewed was Alma Advisory Group. An evaluation committee made up of three of the library board members narrowed down the eight proposed vendors to those two. Trustee Maya Ganguly was the chair of the committee, and Trustee Theodore Foss and Secretary Susanne Fairfax were the other members.
The interviews and the board’s discussion before to the vote took place during closed session. The committee meeting was also not recorded, but minutes are available online.
Koya Partners, according to the board, has a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion that aligns with the library’s goals. The firm has a history of diverse placements of directors and library staff. In 2023, about 75% of placements from this vendor were people of color and 62% were women, according to the board’s statement on the search. Koya also implements implicit bias training, according to the committee meeting’s minutes.
The library board and representatives from Koya Partners are expected to meet in the next two to four weeks, according to library officials, to finalize “parameters for the search process.” This could include identifying opportunities for staff and community input, outlining a timeline for the search and creating a candidate profile.
The profile will likely require a master’s degree in library and information science, according to the board’s statement. Koya will also seek out references for candidates and help with onboarding.
“Koya Partners has an excellent reputation for identifying exceptional candidates for leadership roles with public and academic libraries and related organizations,” said Matthew Fruth, president of the OPPL board, in the statement. “They have deep roots in the Chicagoland region and a strong track record of success in providing meaningful opportunities for staff and community members to participate in the search process.”
Because Koya’s agreement with the library board has not yet been finalized, the fee for services has not yet been determined. But the board states that “Koya’s proposal detailed a fee structure based on one-third of the total first-year compensation, including base salary and any bonuses plus a 2% administrative fee.”
Growing Community Media board member Steve Edwards is a Koya employee. He is not involved in the library candidate search.
The library board is expected to give periodic updates on the search process during their regular meetings. Deputy Director Suzy Wulf and Director of Collections Leigh Tarullo are temporarily filling the executive director role in the meantime.