New School Library Chief in Chicago

A public librarian and former attorney has been tapped as director of libraries for the Chicago Public Schools, the nation's third-largest school system. Kathleen M. Ryan, who previously ran 23 branches as South District Chief of the Chicago Public Library, stepped into her new job in February. She replaced Ann Weeks, who in 1997 was hired to overhaul the city's failing school libraries as part of a district-wide school reform effort. Ryan became a librarian in 1993 after many years as an attorney for the Washington State Department of Ecology and the Washington State Legislature.