Booth Library Director Steps Down After 11 Weeks

Just months after accepting the position, C.H. Booth Library director Shawn Fields has stepped down.

Library Board of Trustees Martha Robilotti confirmed Fields' departure to Patch Tuesday, saying the library would begin looking at how to move forward in the near future.

"We're going to look into things," Robilotti said. "The library board will be meeting with the staff on a regular basis and monitoring how things are going, but there's no timeframe at this point."

Fields assumed the position in July after longtime head librarian Janet Woycik retired following three decades of service. He drew criticism from some patrons after the departure of research librarian Andrea Zimmerman, facing heat at a series of open meetings in August which he said would shape the path the library would take in the future.

At the time, Fields told Patch some "changes in job description" were necessary to comply with state codes. After the meetings, he said patrons had been mostly supportive of his changes.

"That happens pretty much everywhere, if you have someone that's been long-tenured in your situation before you," he told Patch in August. "Any public position you have now, if they're new to the community, people want to know what's going to happen. And they're concerned about things changing."

Robilotti said the Board of Trustees would be providing more information about the departure in coming days.