Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 27, 1994 TAG: 9405270099
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: CURRENT EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Karen W. Dillon said putting together a view of the library's future will be one of her priorities after she settles into her new post.
Specifically, Dillon wants to look at the library system's technological and educational needs and outreach services, such as a fledgling program for preschoolers or efforts to bring library books to nursing homes.
And then there's the growth that's already under way: the Blacksburg Electronic Village experiment to give the public free access to the Internet computer network; and the county's plans this fall to sell voter-approved bonds to expand and renovate the Blacksburg branch library.
The library system - with a headquarters library in Christiansburg and branches in Floyd and Blacksburg - is also readying for the big leap into the computerization of the old-fashioned card catalog and checkout system, a time-consuming process that's now done by hand with paper.
The 49-year-old librarian met top county employees and officials on Wednesday at a small reception thrown by the Library Board of Trustees. This week she's been working with Ida Comparin, the outgoing acting library director who retires at the end of the month. Comparin, a longtime library employee, has been filling in since the Library Board fired the last director in March 1993.
One key challenge that Dillon will face in coming years will be the push to expand library services, perhaps with a new branch, into the Shawsville and Elliston area. Geographically isolated from the rest of the county, residents must drive to Christiansburg to check out books.
"There certainly is a strong wish for one down there," said Library Board Chairwoman Nancy Hurst.
"In a county like Montgomery that's so geographically diverse, you have to look at the need," Dillon said.
Dillon said technology will open up access to information for more and more people in coming years. "It's exciting but it's also challenging."
Dillon said she supported the Library Board's decision this spring to retain "Daddy's Roommate," a controversial children's book portraying a homosexual father and his lover, on library shelves. Comparin initially ruled that the book would stay, but a Blacksburg parent appealed her decision to the Library Board, which supported her after two months of consideration.
"I was very pleased that the process was followed," Dillon said. "We need that diversity available, and there shouldn't be barriers" within the library system.
Dillon, who has 28 years of library experience, came here from Richmond, where she was an assistant director with the Virginia State Library and Archives. She earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Texas and had worked there before coming to Virginia six years ago.
Just weeks after accepting the job here, Dillon married Cyrus Irvine Dillon III, the director of the library at Ferrum College. They live in Franklin County, but the 45-minute commute to Christiansburg doesn't faze her. In Texas, the second-largest state in the union, long drives are commonplace.
Dillon, who will earn $37,906 a year, has taken charge of a library system that has approximately 60 employees and an annual budget of more than $900,000. Though she's worked as a consultant and librarian in Texas, and headed a $13 million grant program with three full-time employees in Richmond, this is her first stab at running a public library system.
"I see this as a real growth experience," Dillon said.
by CNB