STORIED CAREER
A reception is planned today at the Poland Library branch for Carlton Sears, who retires in July as director of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County. He has served as director for 15 years and has orchestrated many upgrades to the 16-branch library system.
YOUNGSTOWN
As he reflects on his 15 years as Mahoning County library director, the retiring Carlton Sears modestly refers to himself as a facilitator of possibilities for the 16-branch library system.
“I have a sense that I’ve given people a sense of what the possibilities are with libraries,” Sears said in a recent interview. “If I have increased people’s sense of possibilities, that’s something that I’d be proud of.”
When pressed for a concrete example, Sears cited the library’s work in response to “early literacy challenges in the community and raising expectations for children.” He added, “I’m proud of the work that other people are doing with that.”
Sears’ successor, Heidi M. Daniel of Sugar Land, Texas, who now oversees 16 branches of the Houston Public Library, will join the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County next month, just before Sears retires July 31.
Among the achievements he acknowledges are 15 years of amicable labor relations without strikes by clerks or librarians; passage of all library levies, including a 1.8-mill additional levy in November 2010; the transition to the Internet and eBook age; and the opening of the new Poland, Austintown, Newport, East Side and Springfield branches.
Passage of the local levies has been essential in compensating for losses in state funding for the libraries, he said.
During Sears’ tenure, the library system’s public-relations firm, Farris Marketing, created the unassailable “I love my library” slogan that has guided the system’s public relations and marketing efforts.
When asked to explain his success in labor relations and levy passage, Sears said, “Everybody at the [bargaining] table cares about the community.”
He attributed these successes to finding common interests and to open and have candid conversations about the library’s needs at the bargaining table and with the public.
“I don’t see any downside to completely sharing what your struggles are in context, and then you sort of invite other people in to work with you” to find solutions to problems, he said.
“Libraries have a very vibrant future,” Sears predicted. “People that base their perception upon the history of ‘They’re just a place for books’ are limiting the possibilities.”
When asked what disappoints him about his tenure, Sears said, “There’s so much more to do.”
As an example, he cited the challenge of providing library service to Youngstown’s West Side, where the branch is housed in an aging building.
Another challenge, he said, is serving Brownlee Woods, Campbell and Struthers, where the system’s strategic plan calls for replacing those three branches with one new, larger building, with longer hours and more services.
Upper-level library managers expressed great respect for Sears.
“He has responded to every need in the community that he could identify in a progressive and visionary way and done everything he can to help the lives of the people in this community,” said Josephine Nolfi, manager of children’s services.
Nolfi praised Sears for his emphasis on early literacy through the “Baby Brilliant” program for children who aren’t in day care or nursery school and on financial-literacy programs that teach people to better manage their money in difficult economic times.
“He has kept us on the cutting edge of technology,” concerning the Internet and eBooks, said Janet Loew, communications and public-relations director.
“He’s a leader who brings out the best in people. He doesn’t expect you to do something he wouldn’t do. He gives you autonomy. He is a community leader, and he has raised this institution’s reputation in the community,” said Diane Vicarel, digital-services manager.
Outside of his library work, Sears, among other interests, is a trustee of Meridian Community Care and the Oh Wow! Children’s Museum and serves on the Wick Neighbors executive committee.
In his retirement, Sears, 62, of Boardman, will continue as a coach for the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that attempts to guide local communities to make more intentional, results-oriented choices and judgments.
Most recently, the institute’s local efforts have focused on improving public education here.