Pasadena : Library Director Will Stay

Library Director Edward Szynaka, who said last November that he would retire after heading a drive for a special library tax, has decided to stay another two years.

A $1.3-million-a-year tax was overwhelmingly approved by Pasadena voters June 22, providing the funds to restore the library to a level of service that has not existed since 1989, when a series of budget cuts forced drastic reductions in book acquisitions and shortened hours.

Szynaka, who had been scheduled to step down Thursday, said he would spend the next two years returning the Central Library and its eight branches to a high-quality system. City Manager Philip Hawkey described Szynaka as “one of the nation’s outstanding library directors.”