Jay Barth Named Executive Director of CALS

On Tuesday, October 27, the Central Arkansas Library System Board of Directors announced that Jay Barth will succeed Executive Director Nate Coulter, who announced his retirement plans in March after more than a decade of leadership. Barth will assume the role on December 1, becoming the next leader of the state’s largest public library system. Coulter’s last day with CALS is October 30.

“This is that rare job here that allows you to do public service in a way that doesn’t involve elective office, and the mission speaks to me, so I decided to go for it,” Barth recently told the Arkansas Times. (opens in new window)

Barth is the M.E. and Ima Graves Peace Emeritus Professor of Politics at Hendrix College, where he taught for 26 years. Since retiring from Hendrix, he has served as the inaugural chief education officer for the City of Little Rock and director of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum. He has also taught at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Bowen School of Law, New York University’s Tulsa campus, and the Clinton School of Public Service. He served on the Arkansas State Board of Education from 2012 to 2019, including two years as chair, and currently serves on the Central Arkansas Water Board of Commissioners.

Barth is excited to join CALS, in part because library work offers opportunities to engage with people from all walks of life.

“It’s one of the few institutions that really works across the community in a couple of ways. If you go into a given library branch, you really are going to see folks from all walks of life, from all backgrounds, all racial groups, and that is really rare in our society,” Barth said in an October 28 article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. (opens in new window)

CALS has experienced significant growth and transformation under Coulter’s leadership. In addition to the $31 million renovation of the Main Library, CALS completed improvements across its 15 library branches, including a major renovation of the Sue Cowan Williams Library in Little Rock and construction of a new building for the Amy Sanders Library in Sherwood. The system also introduced the CALS Cruiser bookmobile.

During Coulter’s tenure, CALS expanded its social impact and community engagement efforts, increased access to digital resources, established the Rock It! Lab entrepreneurial hub, and launched the Count Up math tutoring program.

Barth was selected from three finalists following a national search. The other finalists were Meredith Goins, executive director of the World Data System International Program Office at the University of Tennessee, and Dionne Jackson, vice president for inclusive engagement and Title IX coordinator at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana.

CALS looks forward to welcoming Barth as its next executive director and building on the library system’s commitment to connecting people, nurturing potential, and growing community.