Meet the New Director of Pasadena’s Public Libraries

The week Pasadena’s celebrated Public Library Director Jan Sanders retired after 11 years of service, library officials identified Pasadenan Robert Karatsu, the former Director of the Rancho Cucamonga Library, as the library’s interim director while a nation-wide search for a new permanent Director gets underway.

Karatsu recently sat down for a Q&A with questions from Pasadena Now.

 

Pasadena Now:  Can you tell me about your experience in the Library system?

Karatsu: I am the recently retired Library Director of the Rancho Cucamonga Public Library. In 2013, the Rancho Cucamonga Public Library won the National Medal for Museum and Library Services which is considered the highest honor the federal government can bestow upon a library or a museum. (I like to tell people that in my world, the National Medal for libraries would be the equivalent of an actor winning an Academy Award or a writer getting a Pulitzer Prize.) Perhaps the biggest thrill about winning the National Medal was getting invited to the White House where First Lady Michelle Obama presented the award to me. In additional to my work in Rancho Cucamonga, in 2015 I was elected as the President of the California Library Association. This was rewarding in that it gave me the opportunity to have a greater impact statewide on the library community.

 

Pasadena Now:  What changes do you plan to make at the Pasadena Public Library

Karatsu:  I was appointed as the Interim Library Director here in Pasadena when Jan Sanders retired. I am fairly certain that a new, permanent Library Director will be hired by early November (if not sooner.) In my time here, I do intend to learn as much as I can about how the Pasadena Public Library conducts business, and along the way offer some suggestions for possible new services, but ultimately it will be up to the next permanent Library Director to act on any suggestions or ideas I might have.
Pasadena Now:  Do you think that the current library system meets the needs of local residents?

Karatsu:   Being a proud resident of Pasadena, I absolutely believe that the Pasadena Public Library is responsive to the needs of its residents. One thing that really struck me very quickly about the Pasadena Public Library is just how diverse a population it serves (and how well it addresses this diversity.)

 

Pasadena Now: Would you like to make this a permanent position and become the full time director?

Karatsu:  If you asked me this 10 years ago the answer would be different but now that I am retired, I am not going to pursue what I would otherwise have considered the opportunity of a lifetime. But to just get to be the library director for my hometown library for even a few months is truly an honor, a great way to finish off a career in a profession I am honored to have been a part of. I started my library journey 5,500 miles away as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Fiji and now I am working as the library director in my home town, a 10 minute commute on the Gold Line. There is something kind of poetic there, I’m just not sure what it is!