La Grange Park Library executive director to become new director of St. Charles Public Library

The executive director of the La Grange Park Public Library has been hired as the new director of the St. Charles Public Library.

St. Charles Library board trustees Oct. 12 unanimously voted to hire Kate Buckson at an annual starting salary of $125,000. Buckson, who has been executive director of the La Grange Park Public Library since August 2015, will start on Nov. 7.

Buckson also worked at the Westmont Public Library for 11 years in various roles, including assistant director, marketing coordinator and public service associate. She has been a Big Rock Township trustee since May.

Buckson replaces Edith Craig, who in April submitted a resignation letter announcing she was stepping down after more than five years in the position. Her last day was at the end of April.

Craig was hired in September 2016 at an annual starting salary of $108,000. Craig’s hiring sparked controversy among some staff members because she did not have previous experience as a library director. In an email to the library’s staff after Craig was hired, then-board president Tory Haines acknowledged that one of the staff members’ major concerns was her lack of experience as a director.

“The board placed experience very low on our list of priorities,” Haines’ email in response to staff concerns at the time had stated. “Our previous director had a stellar resume and a wealth of experience, but was not a good fit for our library.”

Like the St. Charles Public Library, the La Grange Park Public Library is a district library and its own taxing body.

“So she has the experience of this type of a library,” St. Charles Library Board President Robert Gephart said after the meeting. “We were looking for somebody to take us on that next step forward. We are excited for her to come aboard here.”

In her time as director, Craig oversaw the $18.6 million renovation and expansion of the library, which opened to the public in July 2021. That same month, the majority of employees at the library filed to form a union through the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31.

Earlier this year, the library closed to in-person visits for more than two weeks after threats were made against employees for following the state’s indoor mask requirements that were in place at the time.

A group of more than three dozen people in January protested the library’s decision to follow the statewide indoor mask mandate. Employees also received “hundreds of communications,” some that included threatening comments, officials previously said.

Many of these communications and posts threatened a form of physical retaliation against the library, including statements that unmasked large groups would enter the library, according to a post on the library’s website.

When it reopened its doors in early February, a security guard was put in place at the library’s entrance to enforce the COVID-19 mask policy.