L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library Gets New Director
Midwest native Nancy Kerr will take library reins in late June
Barbara Arnold, photos by Andrea Paulseth |
Monday, June 27, will be the first day on the job for Nancy Kerr, the new director of the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library in Eau Claire. She was appointed to the position in early May by the library’s Board of Trustees after it conducted a nationwide search.
“We found Nancy to be genuine, kind, a strong leader, and focused on the goals of best serving the community’s needs," said Library Board President Kate Cook. “We were impressed with her extensive background in library operations, leadership, and science; her demonstrated dedication to supporting library staff; and her enthusiasm for working in a setting such as our library. We are very excited to welcome her to our wonderful community and library staff, and look forward to working with her.”
“I am very excited to be returning to the Midwest, and getting to know the library staff, the library visitors, and the beautifully renewed library building,” Kerr said.
Most recently, she served as the Library Director for the City of Longmont, Colorado. Kerr has more than a decade of library management experience, primarily on the West Coast and the western suburbs of Chicago. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor’s degree in French and a master’s degree in Library and Information Science.
Kerr will succeed Pamela Westby, who held the position of Library Director for more than five years before retiring in October 2021. The library is temporarily housed in a commercial space on Mall Drive while its permanent home, 400 Eau Claire St., is under construction. The remodeled building is scheduled to reopen this fall.
