Schaffner appointed library director

MILFORD - Ellen Schaffner has been appointed director of the Pike County Public Library system by its board of directors, according to Library President Charles Eible. Schaffner has been employed by the Pike County Public Library since 1996. She worked part-time and then full-time as branch supervisor in the Milford Central Library, rising to assistant director and associate director before her current promotion. She succeeds Susan Jeffery, who left the directorship for a position with the Scranton Library district. A graduate of the University of Connecticut with a BA in History, Schaffner worked at Newhouse Publishing’s Parade Magazine. On her move to Pennsylvania, she substitute taught in the Delaware Valley School District while her two sons were young. She resides in Matamoras with her husband, William. She also taught GED classes for Northampton Community College. Schaffner is pursuing her Master of Library Science degree from Texas Woman’s University via its online American Library Association accredited program. Many of her online classroom contemporaries are librarians from around the United States. “As our community plans to build a new central library, the exposure to a national experience with others who are in the same situation or have just completed building is invaluable,” she said. “We are pleased to have Ellen in the director post,” Eible said. “She knows our county and our library system very well from her experience here and is actively participating in the planning of our new central library in Milford.” The Pike County Public Library system currently services the county from three locations: branches in Dingman Township and Lackawaxen and the central library in the Community House in Milford. The Central Library has outgrown its space in the Community House and a task force is working to build a new library on land on East Harford Street, purchased by the library with a gift from the late Dorothy Warner for that purpose.