Caruso hired to lead library
Monica Caruso
Watauga County has a new library director, five months after the last director left in a cloud of controversy.
The Appalachian Regional Library board announced the hiring of Monica Caruso, who is expected to start on Jan. 4. Caruso was recommended for by the position by the county library board.
Caruso, who currently lives in Matthews, N.C., most recently served as the coordinator of Latino Services at the Hartford Public Library in Connecticut and prior to that as community librarian in the same system. She was formerly the reference/literacy Librarian at the New Haven Public Library.
Caruso earned a ma ster of library dcience degree at Kent State University in Ohio and a bachelor's in elementary e ducation at the University of Akron.
She is certified as a public librarian by the North Carolina Public Librarian Certification Commission.
Caruso is bilingual in English and Spanish and served as the state coordinator and vice president of REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-speaking, an affiliate of the American Library Association.
She replaces John Blake, who said he was forced to resign in July by regional library director Louise Humphrey. Controversy ensued after Humphrey announced she had made the decision despite library bylaws giving personnel authority to county-level boards.
After multiple closed-session meetings, both the county and regional library boards formally voted to accept Blake's resignation.
