John Moorman Selected to Head
Williamsburg Regional Library

Director of the Decatur, IL library to begin service at WRL in July.

John Moorman of Decatur, Ill. has been selected by the Williamsburg Regional Library Board of Trustees to head the regional library system that serves more than 65,000 residents of the Virginia Peninsula. Moorman has most recently been the director of the Decatur Public Library. He will begin his duties in July.

"John Moorman has been a library director for nearly 25 years", said Michael Fox, Chair of the Library Board of Trustees. "The Trustees were impressed with the experience, professionalism and collaborative abilities he will bring to the Williamsburg Regional Library System."

Moorman has nearly 25 years of experience as a library director. He has been city librarian of the Decatur (Ill.) Public Library since 1992. The Decatur Public Library serves a population of 84,000 people and recently completed a $1.6 million capital fund drive and a $5.4 million main library renovation project under Moorman¹s leadership. Prior to his tenure in Decatur, Moorman was executive director of the Cumberland Trail Library System in Flora, Ill. for three years; director of the Oak Lawn (Ill.) Public Library for two years; director of the Brazoria County Library System in Angleton, Texas for six years; and director of the Elbert Ivey Memorial Library in Hickory, N.C. for five years. Moorman, who did his undergraduate work at Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., holds a master of science in library science degree from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is working toward a Ph.D. in library and information science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

The selection of Moorman follows a nationwide search that began in January following the resignation of Patsy J. Hansel, who accepted the position of director of the Mesa (Ariz.) Public Library. Hansel had been director of the Williamsburg Regional Library since 1989. Board Trustee Linda Massie chaired an exhaustive search process that involved library staff, local officials, library professionals and members of the Williamsburg-area community.

"The Williamsburg Regional Library System is the very best in the entire Commonwealth of Virginia," said Fox. "This community and the library's wonderful and professional staff deserve nothing less than a superb director. John Moorman brings such vision and leadership and is a true consensus builder."

The Williamsburg Regional Library system consists of the Williamsburg Library, the James City County Library and a Bookmobile. The system has a service area of more than 65,000 residents of the City of Williamsburg, James City County and part of York County. The library has a collection of nearly 290,000 items, a circulation of 919,000 items and an annual budget of $4,202,000 in the most recent fiscal year. More than 80,000 people attended the system's award-winning children and adult programs in the most recent fiscal year. A seven-member Board of Trustees, to whom the library director reports, governs the Williamsburg Regional Library system.