New Sugar Grove library director finds good fit

SUGAR GROVE – Shannon Halikias said being the new director at the Sugar Grove Public Library is a perfect fit.

Halikias started her new job Oct. 20. She had been the library director at the Lisle Library District for three years.

"They are looking for a strong director, and I'm looking for a supportive board," said Halikias, 44, a Naperville resident.

“We have good access to the interstate, good jobs. The cost of living is a little lower in this area; the schools are good,” Halikias said. “This is a good area to see growth, and Sugar Grove is poised for that, and the library is key to that, as well. We have a beautiful facility to support the educational, cultural and recreational needs of our community.”

Halikias comes by her Southern accent honestly, as she is originally from Alabama and North Carolina. She has lived in the Chicago suburbs since 2001.

Halikias also worked at the Aurora Public Library as coordinator of the Eola Road Branch Library, so she said she is familiar with growth and expansion, and taught in the library technical assistant program at Waubonsee Community College.

Halikias currently serves on the Illinois Library Association’s Public Policy Committee. Her hobbies include kick boxing – as a stress reliever, she said – hiking, teaching and writing.

As a working mother of two boys, ages 9 and 10, Halikias said she is in touch with parents and what they want in a library, and how valuable a role a library can be in people’s lives as a resource and a place to come.

"It's the 'third space,' beyond home and beyond work," Halikias said of libraries in general. "This is the philosophy I bring to Sugar Grove. People are looking for themselves in the library, be it for discussion groups, Legos, to knitting, to film discussions."

But Halikias’ universe paused a bit when she saw the library’s budget.

“I am walking into just my first week on the job, and I saw the budget,” Halikias said. “I had a few heart-thumping moments, and I went, ‘Oh my. Oh my.’ We don’t have money for staff. We don’t have money – what are we going to do?”

But Halikias’ plan is not to keep talking about what the library can’t afford or can’t do, but to focus on what it can do with the resources it has.

“We’re going to let people know what we are accomplishing,” Halikias said. “We’re changing the dialogue and not talking about what we are lacking, but what we are providing.”