Gallup hires new head librarian

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — After nearly a year, Gallup is finally in the final stages of hiring a new head librarian.

City Manager Gerald Herrera said the position has been offered to Joe Gunther, who is the head librarian for the town of Lascassas, Tenn.

Gunther has accepted the job, and the city is now in the process of negotiating the salary — about $49,000 — and benefits.

Gunther will only be the second man in the city’s history to serve as chief librarian.

Octavia Fellin, who the library is named after, served for more than 40 years. After her departure in the late 1980s, the library has had several directors. Some lasted only a couple of months — such as the first man to hold the position — and some stayed on a few years.

Herrera said the delay in appointing a new librarian was in receiving and reviewing the various applicants. Although there were a few people in the Gallup area who have library science degrees, Herrera said none of them applied for the position.

Although the salary is good for the area and the size of the library, it pales in comparison to what a librarian could make back East, he said. One applicant who applied, he added, was making more than $90,000 in her job.