Evanston Public Library names Yolande Wilbern as its new executive director

The Evanston Public Library Board of Trustees announced today that they have named Yolande Wilburn as the Library’s new executive director, capping a more than 15-month search to a close.
Wilburn will join the Evanston Public Library as the new Executive Director, starting Nov. 13, the Library said in its release.
“We are delighted that Yolande will be joining us at Evanston Public Library,” Evanston Public Library Board President Tracy Fulce said. “Her record of strategic planning, budgetary management, and staff development is exactly what is needed to support the extraordinary work our staff do on a daily basis.”

Wilburn currently serves as director of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries, overseeing that system’s ten locations, $19 million budget and full-time equivalent staff of 110, the Library said in its release. Before that, she served as the city librarian for the City of Torrance (estimated 2023 population of 137,465 in 2023), a city located in Los Angeles County, California.
There, she oversaw six library locations.
She started her career, as a librarian at the Chicago Public Library, where she developed one of the nation’s earliest maker labs, the Innovation Lab at the Harold Washington Library, which won the Social Innovator Award for enabling new forms of personal manufacturing and business and the University of Chicago Regenstein Library.
Her tenure in Nevada County is notable “for her strategic work modernizing the library system by implementing technological and infrastructure upgrades, overseeing a significant remodel and the completion of an outdoor amphitheater for the Library and taking an active role in engaging the community through partnerships and events,” the Library release said.
“I am looking forward to expanding collaborations with the city, county, and nonprofits in the community. We should collaborate with partners doing great work to maximize our impact and achieve the best economic, educational and cultural outcomes for the community,” Wilburn said. “Different communities have different needs, and I’m looking forward to understanding Evanston’s needs and how we can best meet them at the Library.”
Wilburn was born and raised in Chicago and lived on Evanston’s south side. It was her family and community ties that prompted her return, the Library said in its release.
“It will be nice to be back home,” Wilburn said. “I am really looking forward to that.”

Fulce said today that Wilburn’s experience in public library systems similar to Evanston helped make her the Board’s tchoice.

In interviews, she impressed trustees as someone who “really understands how to connect with internal and external stakeholders,” she said.
“It’s not just what one audience needs but what’s good for the whole community.”
“We believe that Yolande’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion on both policy and programmatic levels and her ability to build partnerships will benefit Evanston Public Library in a number of ways,” Fulce said.
A deliberate approach with a bump at the end

Library trustees had taken a deliberate approach to finding a successor to Karen Danczak Lyons, who retired June 17, 2022 after nearly a decade in the job.

The Library Board solicited feedback from residents, staff and volunteers through surveys open throughout fall of last year.
In addition, trustees also held six listening sessions, three each for community and staff members.
In the search, trustees sought to “flip the model” used in other searches for chief executives, including in the city’s failed searches to find a city manager.
Library trustees for a city manager, where finalists were introduced to the public and then subject to a barrage of criticism as aspects of their public records was unearthed.
Library trustees sought to collect data and information on the front end rather than subjecting people to it in the back end, Fulce said about the process.

Nevertheless, library staff expressed concern about the process, with trustees down to their final candidates. A letter written in behalf of 25 staff members was sent to the city’s Human Resources Department in mid-September, raising concerns about the public record of one of the finalists vying for the job with Wilburn.

The letter stated that staff members staff members understood the trustees were going to tender a job offer to that person and were waiting for the city of Evanston’s review before they made the selection.
They asked the asking that the department evaluate the suitability of that person for the job, according to the document, received through Freedom of Information request.
In an interview, Fulce maintained that library trustees were still making their way through the process at the time of the letter and had not decided on a candidate.
The process included a ranking of the candidates in various areas of competency as laid out in a detailed job description.

She said the Board then evaluated the top three candidates based on the numbers, and then narrowed their choice to two.
From there, trustees said, “let’s move on to the city process,” referring to the background checks conducted by the Human Resources Department seeking employment with the city.
Wilburn emerged from as the clear top candidate from the total process, she said.
“I’m thrilled,” Fulce said. “I think she is exactly the right leader for us at this time.
In her message that went out today to staff, announcing Wilburn as the Board’s selection, Fulce wrote that “when we solicited your input as a staff, including members of the administrative team, we heard your request for a transparent communicator and a strong operations manager.”
“We were impressed with Yolande’s vision and her commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion on both policy and programming levels. She understands how to leverage innovation to manage change and we believe her leadership will create space for you, the talented staff of the library to
“We also believe that EPL needs an executive director who will build relationships and garner support for the Library and its staff. We are excited to bring a leader to EPL who has a track record of building partnerships and plans to be an invested, visible presence in the Evanston community.”