Collings hired from 150 who sought job
By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – The St. Tammany Library Board of Control continued to leave a three-year controversy over sexually explicit books behind them as they hired a new library director in a relatively short four-month period of time, now focusing on the future of the public library system in the parish, rather than headlines in the media from the unpleasant controversy.
Trevor Collings was selected by the full Library Board (LBOC) after a 12-hour session last Wednesday when the four finalists were all brought in for interviews. The board set out a job description to dozens of states and received 150 resumes for the job.
Collings was the former director of the Audubon Regional library system that serves East Feliciana and St. Helena parishes and was a unanimous selection from the seven-member board when they took a vote.
He was offered a salary of $120,000 a year and has accepted, meaning he will begin work here on Feb. 23.
“I’m grateful for the board’s confidence, and excited to serve the community alongside the dedicated staff of St. Tammany Parish Library,” said Collings.
The new director comes in after former Library Director Kelly LaRocca resigned last year, near the end of all the controversy. She had been leading the St. Tammany system since behind hired in 2019, but found herself the target of heavy criticism during the three-year issue with the books.
Collings was seen as a conservative candidate among the four, which included one candidate from Texas, one from Tennessee and current Washington Parish Library Director Sonnet Ireland, who had been among many who spoke publicly during the three-year controversy over the books, consistently siding with the liberal effort to allow the books to remain available to minors. No attempt was ever made to ban books, despite plenty of media and Socia Media posts to the contrary.
“I am really proud of the work from this board. We worked together so well on this and only got this started four months ago,” LBOC Chairman Charles Branton said.
Branton, who has a Master’s Degree in Library Science and was first added to the LBOC a year-and-a-half ago, has brought strong leadership to the formerly troubled and controversial board, moving them forward in a positive way to address the normal library issues of the past.
Previous to that, the board was embroiled in a three-year controversy that drew national attention after sexually explicit books were found available to minors throughout the 12 branches. The former board, led by LaRocca, fought the efforts from the public to have the books moved into a restricted section needing parental approval. But that never happened until the Parish Council reappointed the entire board, bringing a more conservative viewpoint to the situation.
LaRocca then agreed to create a New Adult section that is restricted to adults only.
With that situation finally behind them, the board has focused on its $13 million budget that includes two major construction projects starting this year in Lacombe and at the Slidell Robert Boulevard branch.
Branton said Collings impressed the board as, “a director we have high hopes for. He was ready for the interview, gave us straight answers and his resume showed that he has been successful everywhere he has gone.”
Branton also noted that the entire process to hire the new director only cost in the range of $5,000, after the board vetoed an effort by Parish President Mike Cooper to set aside at least $20,000 to use an outside consulting firm. Cooper was so upset when Branton allowed an outsider to use AI to create the job description for the position that he called for a board member—apparently Branton—to be fired for using it.
Branton said that his own research in talking to potential outside consultants to help in the search, “would have cost at least $50,000, not $20,000. I talked to consultants and they said it would cost us at least $40,000 to $50,0000, including expenses. Thankfully the board made a good decision in handing this in-house.”
Comments are closed.