Ottens Stepping Down As Library Director

Oskaloosa Public Library Director William Ottens will leave that position September 11th, 2015.

Oskaloosa Public Library Director William Ottens will leave that position September 11th, 2015.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Oskaloosa Public Library Director William Ottens will be stepping down from that position effective Friday, September 11th, 2015.

Ottens, who will have been the director of the facility for 3 years on the day of his departure, says that he will miss Oskaloosa.

It wasn’t an easy decision for Ottens, but his partner took a job opportunity in Kansas. “This was a great opportunity for him,” said Ottens.

Ottens, who has been described as a librarian on the way up, will be searching for work after the move. Employers often need their new hires as soon as possible. With a required 30 day notice to the City of Oskaloosa, it was becoming obvious to Ottens that moving into a new position, while still employed, could be difficult.

Ottens said he would like to yet explore being the director at another library or being a youth librarian. In the mean time, Ottens may take the opportunity to write a book. In the online world, Ottens is well known for his blog ‘Librarian Problems‘.

Ottens’ work at the library has been highlighted by his many new and fresh programs, including the hugely popular zombie crawl, among others. “I’ve had a lot of fun with the teens here, with Dungeons and Dragons and the Halloween parties.”

Social media is a large part of Ottens expertise and he brought those skills to the library, helping to grow the library presence on various social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Caturday Posts greeted many readers on Saturdays. “I promised to schedule at least a couple of months of Caturday Posts.”

“One of my favorite things to do here in Oskaloosa was actually going out of the library and visiting with the local service organizations and groups, just bragging about all of the resources here at the library; getting people excited about the services and resources available to them.”

During his 3 years in Oskaloosa, the events downtown are something that Ottens has enjoyed. “Just seeing people downtown,” was something Ottens has enjoyed. “The first thing that really stuck out to me was the enthusiasm behind the Blue Zones Project. The kick-off event, that was encouraging. To see people focused on something that puts value on everybody’s life.”

At the library itself, some of Ottens favorite things have been the Zombie Crawl, the Summer Reading Program, among others. Ottens says that, “it was always exciting to see children, teens and their parents excited about the program here. This last Summer Reading Program kick-off, I felt, was a huge success. We had nearly 400 people here at the library.”

Once Ottens walks out of the Oskaloosa Public Library for the final time on September 11th, “I will definitely miss my staff here, and miss the community. I have enjoyed my time here.”

Posted by on Aug 9 2015. Filed under Local News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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