MCLS Director Appointed to Chair Ohio Library Council

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – You know your local library must be doing something right when its executive director gets chosen to lead the Ohio Library Council.        

Muskingum County Library System Executive Director Stacey Russell will serve as the Chair of the Ohio Library Council’s Board of Directors in 2026.

“Ohio Library Council represents the 251 public libraries in the state of Ohio,” Russell said. “They have over 4,500 individual members throughout the state and they focus on advocacy, education, innovation and collaboration across public libraries in the state of Ohio.” 

Russell has been on the Ohio Library Council Board of Directors for 3 years and was elected as chairperson during their January meeting. She has a very good working knowledge surrounding the current challenges as well as how to strategically plan toward getting things done in the future.

“So, very excited,” Russell said. “Libraries, like many other governmental entities, are facing a lot of challenges, funding changes, questions about property taxes and how property taxes work to fund libraries. And then also there’s always a lot of information and questions about library materials.”

Many communities throughout the state have a library that is custom tailored to promote literacy much like restaurants that serve items which appeal to their patrons. The Ohio Library Council finds literacy promotional ideas that are successful in one community and shares them with other libraries across the state.