Dundee Twp. library welcomes new director
EAST DUNDEE -- "It was kind of poetic justice," said Roxane Bennett, starting her second week on the job as the Dundee Township Public Library's executive director.
Bennett joins the recently renovated library from the Punta Gorda Public Library in Punta Gorda, Fla., where she was branch manager. That library finished its own renovations the same week as Dundee Township's.
(Marina Makropoulos/Staff Photographer)
It's nice to still see the results of all the hard work of a renovation, the new director said -- even if that means inheriting all the loose ends to tie up after a renovation has finished.
Putting a new director in place was one of the last loose ends of the library's almost complete transformation. Previous director Elisa Topper left that position at the end of 2008, and the Dundee Township Public Library Board took up the search for a new director in January.
"I'm still learning a lot about this library," Bennett said. "I've only been here a week now."
She'd spent several years growing up in the Elgin area, attending Kimball Middle School and Larkin High School. But she left about 20 years ago, and a lot has changed since then, she said.
For one, she remembers riding her bike along Randall Road.
"When I lived here before, Randall Road was a country road," Bennett said. "I remember riding my bicycle to the barn that used to be a pet store. I rode my bike out there to pick up a dog -- I got a puppy from there. I rode home with him in my basket. It was country out there."
She also noted the increased ethnic diversity in the area, the exploding growth of the west side of the library district and the improvement of many areas that had fallen into disrepair when she lived in Elgin.
"I think it's a challenge for the people who value the history to tell their story and make it relevant to people who haven't been here a long time -- the value of story and roots," she said.
One of the ways Bennett plans to get to know the library district and its residents to make sure the Dundee Township library best meets their needs is to listen.
"I'm thinking of starting in January and spending about six months executing a series of listening forums," she said. "I'd be interested in hearing from any group that would like to have a listening forum scheduled. What I'm looking for is a sense of what the community wants to see."
And that means Dundee Township residents who do not now use the library as well. Bennett said she's a firm believer the library has something for everyone.
She also has a few ideas she's brought from her previous library experience, working in all departments such as circulation, reference, children's and teens at a number of different libraries in Ohio and Florida -- from small community and school libraries to county and state library systems.
The Punta Gorda Public Library had a strong partnership with the area arts and humanities council, and she said she'd like to form similar partnerships at Dundee Township so all residents have access to the arts and culture. The Florida library also had an active Friends of the Library program, and the new director said she looks forward to working with the Dundee Township Friends of the Library.
"That's something I'd really like -- to help support the Friends group here. I know they'd like to grow," Bennett said. "The library can never have too many friends."
