Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Portage Lake District Library Director Dillon Geshel and Vice Preseident Jennifer Donovan discuss finding a replacement for Geshel during the library’s board meeting Wednesday in Houghton. Geshel is leaving to join the Superiorland Library Cooperative in Marquette as its director.

HOUGHTON — The Portage Lake District began planning for the era beyond its current director at its board meeting Wednesday.

Dillon Geshel, director since 2015, is leaving to become director at the Superiorland Library Cooperative in Marquette. His final day will be Sept. 26.

While the library board selects a new director, circulation manager Susan Autio will serve as interim director, as was recommended by Geshel.

“Susan is a thoughtful, well-respected manager whose experience supporting library staff makes her a great fit for keeping PLDL on course during the interim,” Geshel said.

The board approved a temporary $5 pay raise for Autio to $21.10 per hour.

Geshel gave the board a draft of a job posting and a list of responsibilities and desired skills and qualifications. He also passed along proposals from several Midwest search firms, including the one he had worked with in the Superiorland search. The board’s search committee will include personnel committee members Jennifer Donovan, Joan Suits and Sylvia Matthews, as well as other library employees to be determined.

The board also accepted Geshel’s resignation, with Suits abstaining.

“I’m sorry, Dillon,” she said. “I wish you well. But I’m not happy.”

Geshel also presented the results of a survey of staff members. The vast majority were against requiring masks for staff or patrons.

“It probably ties back to the fatigue or even danger that the staff can find themselves in when they’re having to police those mandates because people get so unruly about it,” Geshel said. “And without having a mandate that comes from the state level or the federal level, it makes it a little bit more difficult for them to police.”

However, most staff members favored keeping the registration requirements for indoor library-sponsored events. Wednesday, the board extended the pandemic-related meeting room rules until Sept. 23. Those include registration and limiting capacity to 50%.

The board also reviewed an early draft of the plan for reconfiguring the library space. The Michigan room would be moved from the west end of the building to the east end, adjoining a new quiet/meeting room area.

“It helps us further designate a section of the library as a quiet area,” Geshel said. “Because Michigan right now is behind the noisiest section of the library, the front desk, so it’s kind of hard to maintain any quiet.”

The teen area would be moved to the west end, near the business center. A new tween area would be added in the middle of the building by the waterfront. Geshel hopes to be able to add a new second entrance on the waterfront side once the city’s pier placemaking project is complete.

Geshel also updated the board on recent library events, including the library’s summer community reading program. This year had 544 readers, up 54% from the pandemic year. They read more than 874,000 minutes, well above the 500,000-minute goal and a 90% increase from last year.