NAPL Hires New Director

After a search for a new director which included a nationwide job posting, the North Adams Public Library Trustees found the best candidate just over the Vermont border.

Southern Vermont College's director of library services, Sarah Sanfilippo, has been hired to replace retiring Library Director Mindy Hackner. Iberkshires.com reports Mayor Thomas Bernard made the announcement at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

Sanfilippo has been with the college since 2001 and before that was assistant librarian for the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vt. She graduated from the State University of New York at Fredonia, earning a degree in English and literature, and received her master of library science from SUNY at Buffalo. She is chairman of the board of the Solomon Wright Public Library in Pownal, Vt., and a member of several library associations. Those credentials, along with her availability due to the impending closure of the financially troubled Bennington college apparently made her a very attractive candidate to the NAPL Trustees. Sanfilippo is expected to start on April 29. Hackner plans to stay on until May 31 to allow some overlap and make the transition easier.