Library Director David Farrar resigned his post today, system officials confirm. Library Board of Control President Kizzy Payton says the board will make a recommendation for an interim director at its meeting today, and a national search for a new director will follow.
“The events of the last several weeks have revealed that the Library Board may have several issues that need to be addressed regarding the policies and procedures used during the past related to hiring individuals to work as the system’s Library Director,” Payton says in a prepared statement. “It is of the utmost importance to the board to restore confidence in the library system.”
Farrar was to face a performance evaluation by the library board at its meeting today. The evaluation had been deferred from the board’s Nov. 30 meeting, ostensibly over certification questions.
However, the situation intensified beyond a usual evaluation when reports surfaced that Farrar had been arrested in Alabama in 1996 on sexual abuse charges, and that the board had addressed the issue in a closed meeting Nov. 29.
In the 1996 case, a judge overturned the jury’s guilty verdict, but Farrar was convicted on a charge of impersonating a peace officer. He received a three-year suspended sentence and five years of probation, but has maintained his innocence in the matter.
Meanwhile, reports also surfaced that Aaron Brian Fielder, a longtime friend and former business partner of Farrar’s—and whom Farrar hired as his deputy director a year ago—had pleaded guilty to one count of attempted receipt of child pornography in September in an Alabama federal court. Fielder resigned Nov. 7, about five months after he went on an unpaid leave of absence. He has yet to be sentenced on the conviction.
The library board did not perform a criminal background check on Farrar when he was hired. Farrar was unavailable for comment today. On Tuesday, he told Daily Report, “Very soon now, the truth will come out as to why I’m being persecuted. The truth will be clear and factual.”
The Library Board of Control will meet at 4 p.m. at the BREC Administration Building, 6201 Florida Blvd.
