Tribute to Jackie Faust-Moreno

Update June 10, 2012: You may have noticed the City’s flags flying at half-staff this week. It’s a generous and fitting gesture in honor and recognition of the unexpected death of a highly-regarded current head of a City Department while still in office, a rarity. Jackie Faust-Moreno, the Director of Arcadia Public Library and Museum Services, died Saturday morning at Methodist Hospital less than three days after suffering a heart attack in her office early Wednesday evening.

The suddeness caught everyone by surprise. Most of her staff, family and friends remain in a mild state of shock and disbelief. The Hollywood resident is survived by her husband Dave, two daughters and a granddaughter. Although no formal funeral service is planned, at the request of Jackie, an informal ice cream social will be held in her memory at the Library on what would have been her next birthday later this month for City staff, family, and invited friends. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to: Hollywood High Alumnae Association in memory of Jackie (Gillett) Faust-Moreno Scholarship Fund C/O Shirley Norby 3852 Eureka Dr. Studio City, CA 91604

Jackie (center) as host of Chamber board meeting at Library January 26, 2012, with then-Chamber President Bob Hoffman and Library Services Manager Darlene Bradley

The Library Board of Trustees, including myself as Chairman, along with Meredith Brucker, Dorothy Denne, Anne Joseph, and Ron Larson, named Mary Beth Hayes as interim Director of Library and Museum Services at an emergency meeting Thursday. A vote on a permanent Director has been put on the agenda for the regular board meeting June 21. The Library’s deep pool of skilled and experienced staff ensures the transition will be smooth and stable.

by Scott Hettrick

Just hours before she was found slumped over in her office chair moments before she was to leave work for the day, Jackie was out walking during her lunch break on another of her recently initiated daily exercise strolls down Santa Anita Avenue to Longden Avenue from the Library at Duarte Road. On this day, which would be her last, she said she felt so good when she got to Longden that she kept walking down to Live Oak. But her return trip proved to be more strenuous than she expected; her staff told her she didn’t look good, and she conceded that maybe she overdid it. It turned out she had nearly complete blockage in two arteries.

Less than 24-hours earlier at a budget study session that was challenging for all City department heads, Jackie was holding her ground during some pointed questions by the City Council. That was so typically Jackie, and I was very proud of her during that session.

Jackie proudly showing off the new Library marquee at Santa Anita Ave. and Duarte Rd

It was less than a year earlier that the five of us on the Library Board unanimously agreed to promote Jackie to the top spot. (Unlike the City of Arcadia’s other Commissions, which are primarily advisory, the all-volunteer Library Board has full and sole responsibility for the hiring and firing of the Library Director, any changes to the Library’s By-Laws, and oversight of the budget.) Despite Jackie’s 28-year career at the Arcadia Public Library and ten years in what would become the co-Number Two role as Library Services Manager, a couple of us on the board, including myself, only knew Jackie as something of a quiet tech-geek (she ramped up the Library’s web site and blogs and launched the Library’s Twitter feed, as well as the massive new open-source Koha online catalog system). We also knew she loved vampire novels and foreign language films (she initiated the Library’s regularly-scheduled Adult Foreign Language film program).

Library Board of Trustees 2011-12 (l-r) chairman Scott Hettrick, Dorothy Denne, Anne Joseph, Meredith Brucker, Ron Larson

At least a couple of us were not familiar enough with Jackie to be 100% certain that she had the experience to handle all the budgeting and myriad management aspects of the job, or the strong and strategic personality required to be the public face of the Library and deal with the political side of the Director position – managing our personalities on the Board of Trustees and pushing for approvals needed from the City Manager and City Council.

Boy, did Jackie quickly lay our fears to rest.

We interviewed numerous highly-qualified outside candidates but Jackie made it an easy choice for us, demonstrating her tenacity and subtlely gregarious public personality during the interview process. Her candor was also refreshing. She was nearly 63 years old at the time – she would have turned 64 this month. Despite knowing that we would prefer to have someone commit to the job for at least 3-5 years, since she would be the third Director in less than three years after a long run of stability in that position, she boldly told us without hesitation that she planned to retire in about 2 ½ – 3 years. But she promised to be aggressive during her term and not simply ride out her time, that is, except for a previously planned extended overseas vacation in November/December (she wound up being gone right when the catastrophic windstorm hit Arcadia on Dec. 1, 2011). While those two revelations might have dissuaded some of us from choosing another candidate, it was charmingly frank and somehow reassuring coming from Jackie. She wasted no time in implementing ideas she had for changes at the Library. She felt passionate about making sure pre-teens and teens had a place to call their own so that they didn’t feel like they didn’t belong. She opened up the auditorium to high school students in the afternoons and expanded and redesigned the teen area to be more tailored to their interests. Recently, she also proudly showed me how she had begun to bring in new furniture and signage in the Jerry Broadwell Children’s Room area that would be clearly dedicated to middle school students who often feel like they don’t fit in anywhere.

Jackie also set all the preliminary work in place to completely upgrade and modernize the well-used auditorium, pending spending approvals. And the Library’s recent debut of the first e-books came under her watch.

Shortly before she was taking on her new role, I had embarked on a new job as Executive Director of the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce, and shortly after her promotion, the Library board elected me to be the Chairman for 2011-12. Jackie understood the importance of being an ambassador for the Library and together we saw the potential for synergy in our new jobs. We jointly decided to have the Library host the Chamber’s monthly board meeting in January. More than two dozen movers and shakers stepped foot in the Library for the first time in years, or ever. Jackie and Library Services Manager Darlene Bradley offered a short pitch about the Library’s vast array of services and provided materials for the visitors to take with them. After the meeting, Darlene gave an illuminating walking tour of the entire facility. Jackie also eagerly offered the Library as the venue for the Chamber’s first official City Council candidates forum in March. In her additional role as head of the Arcadia Historical Museum, Jackie made it one of her first priorities to be an effective liaison between the City-run Museum and the separate non-profit volunteer group, the Arcadia Historical Society. That effort was very much-appreciated.

After graduating Hollywood High School and majoring in Theater Arts at Los Angeles City College and UCLA, Jackie received her Master of Library Science degree from USC and began her career as a librarian at USC. In 1984, she began her long employment with the Arcadia Public Library as a Reference Librarian before becoming supervisor of Cataloging and Information Services. In 2001 she became the Library Services Manager for Materials and Information Management, where she oversaw a variety of technology upgrades, including the recent migration to the Koha online catalog system.

Jackie was due for her first annual review by our board this month. It was already informally clear amongst all of us that Jackie was about to receive the highest praise for what she accomplished in the job she aspired to and, gratefully, lived to achieve.

— By Scott Hettrick