It has been our privilege to work with several public libraries in Ohio, and this month’s success story is about our latest collaboration with the professional association for Ohio’s libraries. The Ohio Library Council is the forum in which Ohio’s public library community is strengthened through advocacy, education, collaboration, and innovation. The membership of the OLC is composed of public library systems, library trustees, Friends of the Library groups, library staff members, other library institutions, and library-related commercial vendors. Earlier this year, OA was contacted by the OLC board of directors to assist with the search for their new Executive Director upon the retirement of the Executive Director who has led the organization for the past seventeen years. Our project partner was Selection Committee Chair Nicholas Tepe of the Athens County Public Libraries. He said:
We were aware of Organizational Architecture because of the work they had performed for other public libraries, particularly their recruitment projects. Upon the retirement of our Executive Director, we began the process of assessing partners that understood both public libraries and not-for-profit organizations. We selected OA and the project team of Mark Fiala and Ryan Sheehan to work with us based upon their experience and understanding of the needs of Ohio’s libraries. We had to ensure that we had our new Executive Director in place by the time our current Executive Director retired. The OA team was quick to start the process of defining the role and expectations, developing a candidate sourcing strategy, and providing guidance on an appropriate compensation package using valid and reliable benchmark compensation data. OA provided a slate of highly qualified candidates that were exactly what we were looking for and facilitated the screening and selection process for us. Ultimately their work helped us select our new Executive Director. We could not have been more pleased with their help and guidance on this project, the quality of the candidates, and the timeliness of their work.
Do you need assistance with a strategy for effective recruitment? Contact us to learn how we can help and check out our blog for more resources.