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Slover Library makes administrative break from Norfolk Public Libraries

The Slover Library, March 30, 2017.
The Slover Library, March 30, 2017. (Bill Tiernan)
NORFOLK

The crown jewel of the city's public library system is apparently breaking with its sister branches — at least administratively.

According to two sources with knowledge of the situation, the Slover Library has moved from under the control of Norfolk Public Libraries and its director. The Slover will operate as its own department and its director will report to the chief deputy city manager, Wynter Benda.

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The move was announced to Slover staff on Friday.

The average library user won't notice any change in day-to-day operations and will still have access to all the same resources, sources said Friday. Your Norfolk Public Libraries card will still work at the Slover, and if you check out a book, you'll be able to drop it off at any other Norfolk library.

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The move is aimed to let the Slover capitalize on its unique position among city libraries — located downtown and backed by its own foundation — to do things a traditional library system can't do, or isn't necessarily interested in doing.

"We want to be everything a 21st-century library can be. What can it be? We want to find out what that can be," said one source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. "We're looking at what is our niche and what can we do to serve that need."

One niche Slover aims to fill: Becoming a knowledge base for regional issues such as climate change. The new administrative structure will allow the Slover to make decisions, for instance, about its collection of books and other media to quickly address marquee topics, which sources said can be difficult to do from inside a traditional library system with 11 other branches.

"NPL excels at what they do, but we (at Slover) have these aspirations that don't necessarily align with what a traditional library system typically does," one source said.

Neither Benda nor Slover Executive Director Lynn Clements returned phone calls Friday evening. City spokeswoman Lori Crouch refused to discuss the matter when reached by phone at 6:45 p.m. Friday, citing the hour.

Word of the move has been floating around for weeks, according to another source with knowledge of the situation, but most of the Slover Library staff was informed officially for the first time Friday.

Since it opened in 2015 at a cost of $65 million, the Slover has made a name as something more than a traditional library, with technology and resources unrivaled by any other city branch. The library is backed by a foundation headed by former long-time Norfolk mayor Paul Fraim and a board featuring many other notable Norfolk residents.

How much money the foundation is actually bringing in and routing to the library, however, is unclear.

The foundation had budgeted to spend more on salaries for Fraim and other foundation staff than on aid to the library in the last fiscal year, which ended June 30. Financial statements on the foundation's website are more than 18 months old. Foundation staff have not released updated statements detailing last year's finances, despite requests from The Virginian-Pilot made over the course of several months.

​Ryan Murphy, 757-446-2299, ryan.murphy@pilotonline.com

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