GOOD NEWS: Charlotte leader to be Charleston library’s next executive director

Staff reports  |  Angela Craig, a regional library leader who manages two major Charlotte libraries, will be Charleston County Public Library’s new executive director, the library’s Board of Trustees announced recently.

Craig

“Angela is the perfect fit for leading efforts to continue the tremendous forward trajectory that the Charleston County Public Library has been on in recent years,” said Andy Brack, chair of the library’s Board of Trustees. “With her broad experience in managing significant libraries and a major building program in Charlotte – plus her years of work of providing innovative services – Angela has the talent and experience to guide our staff and system in the days ahead as we soon open five new libraries and renovate others.”

Craig, 39, is stepping down as Center City leader for Charlotte Mecklenburg Library (CML), a system in Charlotte, N.C., with a $40 million annual budget and 20 library locations. She will start her new position in Charleston County by May 1. The Center City leader is equivalent of the system’s deputy director.

“It is a tremendous honor to be selected as the next executive director of the Charleston County Public Library,” Craig said this morning after the board voted to hire her.  “I am excited to be part of such a dynamic and dedicated staff and historic community that loves and values their libraries. The future is bright for libraries and we have great things ahead of us at Charleston County.”

Craig was one of four finalists who were interviewed by the board this month after a national search by an executive recruitment firm that specializes in locating the best and brightest from the world of libraries. The new director will lead the system’s continuing efforts to bolster customer service for library users as well as grow virtual services, overhaul technologies, create innovative content, and build sustainable partnerships with businesses and community organizations.

Craig also will continue ongoing efforts to finish the library’s voter-approved $108.5 million building and renovation program, which includes constructing five new libraries (two new branches and three replacements), renovating 13 existing branches and relocating support staff out of the main library to free up space for public use.  Currently four new library buildings are under construction and another is in design. More information

Also in Good News:  

Women leaders to be honored.  Six area leaders will be honored noon March 7 with the Trident Literacy Pat Gibson Founder’s Award at the organization’s Founder’s Award Luncheon.  The ceremony, which is during International Women’s Month, will be held at Founders Hall at Charles Towne Landing, 1500 Old Towne Road, West Ashley.  Honorees include: Brenda Carter, a member of the S.C. Tennis Hall of Fame; Dot Scott, president of the Charleston chapter of the NAACP; Giovanna De Luca, a College of Charleston professor who is founder and artistic director of the Nuovo Cinema Italiano Film Festival; Jennet Robinson Alterman, a longtime women’s rights advocate who currently chairs the S.C. Women’s Rights and Empowerment Network; award-winning, nationally-known cookbook author and chef Nathalie Dupree; and MUSC nursing professor Deb Williamson. More info.

Great big gift.  Hats off to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for its generous $2 million donation to the International African American Museum Center for Family History.  Former Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. said in a press release, ““One of the crown jewels of the experience at the museum will be the Center for Family History. Because of this generous donation from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the center will catapult into a level of excellence that simply would not be achievable.”

New members.   Congratulations to four new members of The Citadel’s Board of Visitors:   Three of the new members — A. Sean Alford, superintendent of Aiken County Public School district;  Maj. Gen. R. Van McCarty, South Carolina’s adjutant general; and James E. Nicholson Jr., general manager of sales in gas operations for SCE&G/Dominion Energy — are now active members of the board.  A fourth board member, Robert E. Lyon Jr., will begin serving July 1. Lyon, an attorney, is deputy executive director of the S.C. Association of Counties.