CHAPEL HILL – After its first nationwide search for a new director came up short, the Chapel Hill Library has found its new leader.

“It was great to meet Roger Stancil and some other folks who are involved with the library and I’m very proud to have been selected,” said newly appointed Susan Brown.

Town Manager Roger Stancil announced Monday that Brown will take over as director effective May 20.

The library’s dedication ceremony is scheduled for April 20, and Brown has agreed to be in town for the event. Brown is currently the marketing director of the public library in Lawrence, Kansas. There she has also served as an adult services librarian.

“We were Tar Heels when we came here and we’ve been J-Hawks briefly and we are thrilled to be Tar Heel once again,” Brown said.

Prior to her time in Kansas, she worked in Raleigh at the Cameron Village Regional Library. She’s also the former branch manager of the Carrboro Cybrary.

But the search to find a library director was not easy. A team of consultants received applications from as far away as Washington and Arizona, but none of the sixty or so candidates fit the bill. Brown went through an extensive interview process to get the job.

“Rather than just a typical one-on-one interview or a presentation, it was a day-and-a-half series of all kinds of activities,” Brown explained.

Brown is no stranger to Chapel Hill. After getting her bachelor’s degree in history from Virginia Tech, she enrolled in UNC’s school of Information and Library Science where she completed her master’s degree.

“We left Chapel Hill about 7 years ago. And we are just thrilled to be coming back,” Brown said.

To read more about Susan Brown, you can follow this link to her blog: www.658point8.com

To see a new video on the Library’s progress, click here.