Gwinnett Library System Director Is Fired

In a special called meeting Wednesday (June 12), the board of directors of the financially pinched Gwinnett County Public Library fired its executive director -- without cause, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Nancy Stanbery-Kellam, who served as director since 2006, left the meeting without speaking, the Gwinnett Daily Post reported.

Library Board Chairman Dick Goodman, who also is mayor pro tem of Suwanee, said a new vision is sought for the library system.

“In a changing environment, all institutions and organizations, including libraries, flourish with a change in leadership,” Goodman told the AJC.

-- Do you think the director's termination was just? What does the Gwinnett library system need to improve financially? Let us know in the comment section.

The ousted director will receive a year's severance pay of $121,414, the Post reported.

Stanbery-Kellam's termination follows years of money frustrations and unpopular decisions:

• In 2009, the Gwinnett County library thought about closing the Dacula library in favor of the new Hamilton Mill location. That didn't go over well with patrons. 

• Then the library's leadership decided it would be a good idea to shift from full-service libraries to computer centers in some locations. That, too, wasn't popular.

• Hours and days of operation were cut at one point, as well. 

• Last year, leaders were set on using advertisements on bookmarks, and then they decided against that.

• This year, Gwinnett County commissioners slashed $1 million from the library's materials budget.