Kris Sweckard

​Received a note earlier in the day that on Tuesday, Mayor Mike, Comerica CEO Ralph Babb, Serita Ann Jakes (Mrs. T.D. to you) and a host of city council members are meeting at the North Oak Cliff Library Branch for "a major announcement" that will involve the "unveiling of [an] e-book collection and new high-tech library resources" courtesy, who else, Comerica. Also on the guest list: Corinne Hill, still listed as the interim director of the Dallas Public Library system -- though not for long. She's outta here February 15, choo-chooing to Chattanooga.

She told Brantley why a few weeks ago -- in large part because the city's taken forever to either take the "interim" off her title or name a replacement, which the city manager was was supposed to do by Thanksgiving using either Hill or two other finalists whose resumes it appears we can now forget all about. Why? Because, per the Mary Suhm memo you'll find below: "We will continue a nationwide search for the next director of the Dallas Public Library with the assistance of an executive search firm specializing in identifying the best candidates for major, urban systems." But time is of the essence, she insists, as Nashville, San Jose and a few other "major library systems" are also "searching for new leaders."

But in the meantime, Suhm has appointed yet another interim -- and someone with whom we're quite familiar, Kris Sweckard, who, for the last eight years, has been in ... the Office of Environmental Quality and the man behind its so-called Efficiency Team. (My, how prescient.) But lest you think that an odd job swap, Suhm reminds that prior to his coming to work for the city, Sweckard was in management consulting with PricewaterhouseCoopers focusing on "process improvements, change management, and technology implementation." Oh, that reminds me: You really must watch House of Lies. Anyway. More >>

​A Friend of Unfair Park reminds me: It's that time of the year again -- time for Dr. John W. Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University, to rank 75 major metros' literacy levels using a handful of criteria ("newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment and Internet resources") to make sweeping generalizations about the state of big cities' "social health." And after seeing an uptick in our ranking last year -- all the way up to 44, nothing to brag about -- Dallas now sits at No. 51. That's the lowest Dallas has ever scored since Miller began keeping score. Back in '08, matter of fact, we were all the way up to 38.5. But now? Austin and Plano rank ahead of us. But look out below, Fort Worth (No. 54) and Houston (No. 60!).

Below, where Dallas ranks in those individual categories mentioned above. Spoiler alert: It's the "Educational Attainment" score that really dragged us down.More >>

​The American Library Association, in town since Friday, begins its wind-down at the Dallas Convention Center this afternoon, when Lisa Loeb does her thing. But this morning, a Friend of Unfair Park notes: The state of the Dallas Public Library system is very much on the mind of ALA President Molly Raphael.

Right now, of course, we're without a permanent library director ... or, for that matter, even an interim, what with Corinne Hill choo-choo'ing to Chattanooga. And as we discussed repeatedly back in September, the DPL budget gets smaller and smaller every year, even as the city preps new branches scheduled to be designed and constructed out of still-sitting-there 2006 bond funds, which we'll get to later this afternoon. Writes Raphael, the city's managed to do more than most with less than most, but a "precarious" position could get worse before it gets better, if it ever does. In the wake of most of the city's libraries being closed on Mondays, among other head-scratchers, she writes:

Such a reduction in hours means thousands of lost opportunities to connect patrons with needed resources and services. Not only is access to materials limited, but the size of the library's collection is dwindling as the library struggles to find funding to replace worn materials. New titles are becoming dearer, and patrons must add their name to long waiting lists to borrow new books or other items.

Now, once again local leaders are considering the upcoming budget. The library has shown it is committed to streamlining operations and meeting financial challenges with innovation and collaboration, but a library's resources and creativity can be stretched only so far.

Dallas Public Library needs our support. As local leaders work to develop a budget, we ask that they see libraries as part of the solution and restore funding. We must not turn a blind eye as Dallas leaders shelve the value of library service. Our communities must stand up for their libraries.

Read the whole thing here.

​Couple of days back I noted that Corinne Hill, the interim director of the Dallas Public Library system since July 2010, is slated to give a talk about "Re-imagining the Public Library in a Post-Recession Economy" when the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting comes to town next week. But she won't give the talk as interim head of the Dallas Public Library system. Instead she'll be doing it as the incoming director of the Chattanooga Public Library system. That's according to the Times Free Press there: "Corinne Hill, interim director for the Dallas Public Library, has accepted a position as executive director of The Public Library, library officials confirmed."

As you may recall, Hill was one of three contenders for Dallas's top job back when we thumbed through the stack of resumes in November. And word was Hill was well-liked by City Hall higher-ups. But at some point between then and now she either decided she wasn't going to get the job or didn't want the job. I've been trying to reach her all week; I was told today she's out till next week. Guess we know why. Updates forthcoming, if anyone calls back.

Update at 7:52 p.m.: Congratulations to the Friends of Unfair Park who've commented on this item. Your remarks have been duly noted by The Chattanoogan, which includes this in its story about Hill's hiring:

Her efforts won approval in the Dallas community; she was one of three finalists finally named after city officials hired a search firm that spent months trying to decide who should head the public library there permanently.

But the Texas search was exceedingly slow. Despite Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm's reported intention of choosing a library director by Thanksgiving, the city has yet to hire anybody.

No wonder then, several Dallas Observer readers commented today, that Ms. Hill is no longer willing to continue working at the Texas library.

"One of the risks you take when you procrastinate on filling a position is that good candidates will go elsewhere," one noted succinctly.

Update at 8:45 p.m.: Below is Suhm's memo to Mayor Mike Rawlings and the city council about Hill's departure, in which the city manager apologizes for the way they found out about it.More >>

Via.

​The American Library Association Midwinter Meeting's set for January 20-24 at the Dallas Convention Center, so you know what that means: Thousands of librarians, publishers and authors will be checking out the city for a few days. Perhaps the city can find someone amongst the bunch to lead the Dallas Public Library system, for which no director's yet been chosen out of the last-we-looked stack of three finalists. Though, I do see interim director Corinne Hill's scheduled to give a talk titled "Dallas Public Library on Re-imagining the Public Library in a Post-Recession Economy." And Lisa Loeb's coming home to give the "Wrap Up Rev Up Celebration."

Anyway. Whilst tooling around the ALA's website I espied a link directing convention-goers to a day-by-day itinerary specially prepared for the confab's attendees. And since we occasionally take a look at what outsiders recommend, I thought we'd browse the insiders' look-see at the city's must-to-do's -- and by insiders, I mean a visitors bureau run by a guy who lives in Southlake. Still. Look below. But, spoiler alert: Southfork and NorthPark are on there (and the Spaghetti Warehouse!), but, so sorry, Oak Cliff. You too, Fair Park.More >>

Lisa and Ed Young invite your into their bed Friday morning.

​Feels like three years since last we hopped into bed with Fellowship Church's senior pastor and resident sexpert Ed Young, who's been selling his religious sexperience since giving thanks for network morning talk shows in November 2008. But now, via the miracle of the Associated Baptist Press, we find this: Ed, whom Stephen Colbert called "The Sex Preacher," and wife Lisa will climb on the roof of Fellowship Church (and, one presumes, all over each other) starting Friday morning at 6 for a 24-hour bed-in, part of the sexperiment to see how many copies they can sell of their new don't-help-your-self-help book Sexperiment: 7 Days to Lasting Intimacy with Your Spouse, which is being published today.

Here's the video invite, in which Ed and Lisa invite you to dial in for the entirety of the bed-in scheduled to start when it's, oh, 25 degrees? "It's time to bring the bed back into church," says Ed, "and God back into bed." Which is what Robert Jeffress said right before he endorsed Rick Perry.
More >>

From Robert Edsel's Rescuing Da Vinci: Hitler and the Nazis Stole Europe's Great Art - America and Her Allies Recovered It, the book companion to his documentary The Rape of Europa

​I've got a call out to Robert Edsel -- founder of the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art, which honors those who've spent decades scouring the globe for art stolen by Hitler and the Nazis -- about news that hit The Los Angeles Times yesterday: George Clooney told the paper he's going to co-write, direct and star in a big-screen adaptation of the St. Mark's and SMU grad's 2010 tome The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History. Said Clooney at the the Palm Springs Film Festival, "It's a fun movie because it could be big entertainment. It's a big budget, you can't do it small -- it's landing in Normandy."

Robert Edsel

​Edsel, as you'll no doubt recall, made Big News back in '09, when he found two paintings hanging in SMU's Meadows Museum that he discovered were stolen from the Rothschild family in Paris in 1941. He and I chatted here about why it took SMU more than two years to acknowledge their provenance.

Concerning the Clooney film, this morning Edsel noted on his Facebook page: "I am so proud to share this news, and for people around the world to know more about the heroism of these men and women, the Monuments Men!"

It's still very early in the film-making process: The movie's a go at Sony, but save for Clooney there's no cast. As for how it'll turn out, well, that too depends: Says The Descendants star and Ides of March director and, with Grant Heslov, co-writer, "I'm not opposed to doing a commercial film, I'm just opposed to doing a commercial film that doesn't feel organic to me. So if we're going to do a commercial film we thought, 'Let's do something that seems fun and actually have something to say.'" And as you may recall, Edsel's already made an extraordinary documentary on the subject of the Monuments Men: The Rape of Europa.

Via.

Have I ever mentioned Lisa Loeb's dad, not seen here, is my mom's gastroent ... oh, I have? Never mind.

​All the ducats for Saturday's TEDxSMU wingding at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre are long gone, but no matter: As The Hilltop reminds, you can espy the doings from three remote locations: the Texas Theatre, Tech Wildcatters and the AT&T Foundry in Plano. And, of course, it'll livestream on the TEDxSMU website throughout the day.

The program for this year's event, the theme of which is "Disruption," can be found here; keep in mind, though, it has session times, but not a list of who's participating in which session (wait for it ... wait for it ...). And the list of this year's participants is especially familiar: Among those taking part are Hockaday's own Lisa Loeb, Lord Vishnu's master Will Clarke and Dallas CityDesign Studio bossman Brent Brown, in addition to the likes of Meadows School of the Arts dean José Bowen, filmmaker Elise Ballard, water-saver Jeff Fulgham, artist Jaume Plensa (maker of the giant head) and dancer Bruce Wood.

Concerning this year's theme, TEDxSMU director Sharon Lyle tells Unfair Park today: "It really means nothing when we come up with it, and the speakers help shape what it means. This one in particular has been interesting, because when we say it's disruption, they think it's so negative, and the initial impression is: Why would you pick something like this? But it's this universal conversation I've had about 100 times now, and the speakers come around to a place where disruptive events can be bad, they can be good or whatever, but without them we would have stagnated a long time ago. It's a necessary catalyst for change, so that's where most of the speaker have taken it."

Lyle was also kind enough to provide this something-special for the Friends of Unfair Park who may want to peek in on the proceedings: the list of participants for each session, which you won't find anywhere else. Plan accordingly.More >>

Via.

​Yesterday we met the three finalists for the Dallas Public Library System director's position, one of whom's the current interim, Corinne Hill. The other two candidates presented to city officials by a DeSoto-based search firm (??) are out-of-towners: Juliet Machie, who actually remains the deputy director of the Detroit Public Library despite earlier reports saying she was ousted over contracting concerns; and Larry Frank, who lives in Knox County, Tennessee, following his celebrated tenure there as its senior director of library services. Machie, turns out, also has local ties: From 1997 to '98, says her bio, she served as director of the Zale Library at Paul Quinn College.

And yesterday we let others tell their stories; today, we give them space to sell themselves. On the other side are all three candidates' résumés and letters explaining why they'd be perfect for the job of directing the library system into an uncertain future. The city has redacted some of their personal contact information, in case you were wondering.

From Hill: "I am a hands-on, fully engaged library director with the vision to take a library forward, even in difficult economic times."

Writes Machie: "I am a dynamic, strategic, transformational and experienced leader who is poised and ready to deliver the innovative, productivity, success and engagement that you desire for the Dallas Public Library."

Insists Frank: "I am considered a superlative library administrator, visionary and facilitator, experienced in cultivating partnerships and developing strategic financial tactics." He's also the author of The Arius Scrolls.

Check it out.More >>

Dallas Independent School District

Corinne Hill

​Back in late August we mentioned that the city had hired a search firm to find a permanent (well, you know what I mean) director of the Dallas Public Library System. Corinne Hill's been serving as interim director since Laurie Evans retired in June 2010, and by all accounts she's done a bang-up job (see: this) since taking over during fiscally tough times that have seen the city's spending on libraries plummet. (Tulsa -- yes, Tulsa -- spends more than we do.)

Yesterday we learned that the city has narrowed its list to three finalists: Hill; Juliet Machie, former deputy director of the Detroit Public Library; and Larry Frank, formerly the senior director of library services in Knox County, Tennessee. Assistant City Manager Forest Turner confirms this afternoon that he has interviewed all three within the past week, in Dallas, and that he intends to present to City Manager Mary Suhm the list in coming days in the hopes of "wrapping it up between Thanksgiving and Christmas, New Year's at the latest."

"When I talk to the boss, she may want to take longer," Turner tells Unfair Park. "We're just trying to make sure we're getting someone from comparable libraries, and I feel comfortable they meet all the credentials. They were all strong." But Machie and Frank don't come without some baggage.More >>