No Shortage of Challenges For New Oak Creek Library Director

Things are changing rapidly for libraries across the country, and none more so than Oak Creek.

Not only are libraries adapting to and accommodating constantly-changing technology, but the faces additional challenges with a shortage of space and is campaigning for a new building at the former Delphi site.

That is the landscape that Jill Lininger is walking into today when she begins her tenure as library director.

Lininger says she is focused on making the library a destination for lifelong learning and a "centerpiece of the community." And it's her community, too - she and her husband are Oak Creek residents and have a son attending Oak Creek public schools.

"I'm so used to that, 'You work in the community you live and you know everyone around,'" she said. "And that's something I missed . I'm excited to get to know the people that I live with."

Lininger's official title in Racine was youth services librarian, but she did a little bit of everything. One of her big focuses was utilizing technology - maintaining the library's Facebook page, Twitter account, blog and teaching staff members how to reach patrons through those means.

That experience was one of the factors, along with her desire to promote the library in the community, that led a selection committee to pick Lininger as the replacement for Ross Talis, .

"We're that little building behind and we've been that way for 40 years," said Dennis Havey, president of the Oak Creek Library Board. "We want to change that image. We want to change what the library can do in presenting a more balanced approach to the community, to get community involvement with the library and take advantage of the services we have to offer. That was a big part of selecting Jill."

Lininger said she hopes to expand programming at the library as well as serve a growing number people who use it without actually, you know, coming inside.

A lot of people come into the library only to pick up holds, thanks to the county's online system. There are others who don't even do that - they work on their computers in the parking lot while taking advantage of the library's free wireless Internet.

"I've worked really hard to try and create a way for us to connect with those people, who only stop 20 feet into the front door," Lininger said.

Alderman Michael Toman, who is a member of the library board, noted the number of volunteer hours that went into the search for a new library director.

"There were countless hours of trying to get the right person in this job and I believe we've chosen the right person," he said. "There are a lot of challenges ahead, especially when we are facing a library that is 14,000 square feet and we are looking at doubling, tripling, maybe even quadrupling the size of the library."