Herold Hired as New Dane County Library Director
December 05, 2014
Melanie Conklin, Communications Director, 608.267.8823 or 608.635.5796
County Executive
MADISON: Dane County Executive Joe Parisi and Dane County Library Board President Jon Hochkammer announced that Tracy Herold has been selected as the new Dane County Library Director. Her selection was confirmed by the Dane County Board this evening.
Herold has extensive library administrative experience and has been serving as director of the Sun Prairie Public Library since 2007.
“We are pleased to have someone with the wealth of experience and community ties of Tracy Herold joining us to lead the Dane County Library Service,” Dane County Executive Parisi said. “I look forward to working with her to make sure all residents in our county have access to high-quality public library services.”
Herold began her career in 1994 at the Chicago Public Library, where she served as a children's librarian, government documents librarian, and network administrator for the Lincoln Park Branch's implementation of an early local area network.
Before returning to her hometown of Sun Prairie, Herold was director of the Whitefish Bay Public Library for eight years where she helped lead a fund-raising campaign to build a new building. Other past experience includes launching public Internet access at the Kenosha Public Library and as technology coordinator at the Weyenberg Library in Mequon, WI.
In 2007, she returned to her hometown of Sun Prairie as library director. During her tenure at Sun Prairie Public Library, she not only oversaw daily operations and fundraising, she worked closely with business and private partners and led the library to a 35% increase in circulation in five years.
“We were fortunate to have very qualified candidates but the board unanimously agreed on the final selection,” Dane County Library Board President Hochkammer said. “Tracy was a pleasure to work with and was very excited to step into this position. She knows the community and will be able to start in January with both feet on the ground running.”
The Dane County Library Service (DCLS) was created in 1966 in order to assure legal access to public library services for every resident of Dane County. Bookmobile service began in 1967 to provide public library services in Dane County cities, towns, and villages that do not have a public library.
"I am excited to be entering a new phase of library service with this move,” Herold said. “I look forward to serving the citizens of Dane County and will work to keep excellent library service a high priority for our communities."
She resides in Sun Prairie with her husband, actor Michael Herold and her two children, Olivia and Gabriel. Herold’s contract, with a salary of $95,000, starts on January 12, 2015.
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