Town hires library director from San Jose
By Nathan R. Huff
Just a few weeks after Los Gatos lost its new library director before she arrived, the town has hired Margaret "Peggy" Conaway, division manager and supervising librarian at San Jose's main library, as head librarian.
Conaway will take over on Oct. 9, replacing head librarian Gloria Grimes, who is leaving the area. Conaway's starting salary is $100,500 a year.
The San Jose librarian was reportedly a close runner-up in the initial selection process. The town originally selected West Palm Beach librarian Pam Smith. However, after several fruitless house-hunting trips to Los Gatos, Smith decided not to take the job after all. By hiring Conaway, a north San Jose resident, the town has managed to avoid dealing with the difficulties of bringing an outside hire into the area's booming real-estate market.
"I knew her when I was in San Jose," said Les White, interim town manager and former San Jose city manager. "She is very well-qualified and was very competitive with the top candidates."
Conaway will leave behind her job as division manager and supervising librarian at San Jose's Martin Luther King Jr. Library, as well as her role in the creation of a joint San Jose City-San Jose State University Library. Conaway was co-leader of the team charged with the design of the joint reference at San Jose Public Library and San Jose State University.
While she said it would be hard to leave her current position, Conaway said she was eager to get involved in Los Gatos, particularly with the prospect of building a new library.
"I've lived in the area a long time, and that's helpful to the situation," Conaway said. "It's a beautiful community and it just sounded like something I wanted to do."
She added that she hoped her experience with the cooperative venture between San Jose and San Jose State would give her an edge in working to design a new library for Los Gatos. "With the change in the way information is delivered, building something that will work now and well into the future is a big challenge," Conaway said.
Conaway has been with the city of San Jose for more than 16 years. Before that she was a teacher in Boise, Idaho and Santa Maria, California. She has one daughter who lives in Vermont.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
