“The Board of Trustees is pleased to have three qualified finalists for the position of executive director,” said Elaine Johnson, president of the Dayton Metro Library Board of Trustees and member of a search committee formed last fall.
“After a national search, we are confident that one of these candidates will be able to continue the amazing leadership of Tim Kambitsch, and help propel the Dayton Metro Library in a direction that meets the needs of our community,” Johnson said.
The Dayton Metro Library Board of Trustees will make a final decision at a special meeting in the next few weeks, according to Diane Farrell, the library’s director of external relations and development.
The three finalists were selected from a pool of nearly 30 applicants by the search committee and were invited to a more intensive review process involving library staff, the Friends of the Library Executive Committee, the Dayton Metro Library Foundation Directors and the full Board of Trustees, according to Farrell.
Kambitsch, who will retire Feb. 27, has been the Dayton Metro Library director since 2001 and in recent years led a nearly-completed $187 million system-wide rebuilding project.
“I have every confidence that the Dayton Metro Library is in a great position to attract top talent for the next executive director,” Kambitsch said. “Our partnerships, patrons, staff and facilities are the envy of library professionals around the country, because DML is accomplishing great things in and for our community.”
About the finalists
Peter Coyl has been the director of the Montclair Public Library in New Jersey since March 2017. During his tenure, Montclair Public Library has received four programming grants from the American Library Association and a Multicultural Program Award from the New Jersey State Library. Prior to his current position, he managed Dallas Public Library’s J. Erik Jonsson Central Library. He began his library career in high school shelving children’s picture books and in college was a bookmobile driver. After library school, he was a librarian at a K-12 international school in Taiwan. Coyl holds a graduate degree in Library and Information Science from Drexel University. He also earned an undergraduate degree in Public Administration and Public Policy from Oakland University and studied Mandarin Chinese in China and Taiwan.
Rachel Gut has nearly three decades of experience, beginning as a teen librarian for a small-town library to recent roles in administration at Dayton Metro Library. She holds a Master of Library Science degree from Indiana University and worked at smaller libraries before joining Dayton Metro Library in 2001. Since, Gut has been a branch manager, Outreach Services manager and currently serves as deputy executive director where she oversees operations, including public and youth services, collections, technology, facilities and security. Gut represents the library on the boards or committees of Welcome Dayton, Learn to Earn Dayton and the Montgomery County Educational Services Center. She also volunteers with the American Library Association’s Services to Immigrants, Refugees, and Displaced Persons Subcommittee.
Jeffrey Trzeciak is a native Daytonian who began his career at the Dayton Metro Library. He is currently the director of the Jersey City Free Public Library, the largest municipal library in New Jersey. Trzeciak held senior positions at Newark Public Library, McMaster University and Washington University in St. Louis. In 2018, he received the Director’s Recognition Award from the New Jersey Association of Library Assistants following a nomination by his staff. Trzeciak initiated the award-winning Documenting Ferguson project after the shooting of Michael Brown in 2014 and received a city citation for his commitment to the Newark Puerto Rican community in 2017. He earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from the University of Dayton and a Master of Library Science degree from Indiana University.
Source: Dayton Metro Library
Coming Sunday in Life
At the eve of his retirement, Tim Kambitsch reflects on a library career that started with a high school job shelving books and ends after leading the Dayton Metro Library system for two decades.
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