Years after turning around scandal-plagued Sacramento library, director is retiring

Twelve years after walking into a job heading up the then-scandal-plagued Sacramento Public Library, Rivkah Sass says she is retiring at the end of this year.

Sass, 68, said Wednesday that she informed the library board of her decision and that a national search to replace her will be conducted.

“I love my job, and that’s probably why it’s the right time to go,” Sass said. “I really have mixed feelings.

“My late husband used to say, ‘Stop at the high point.’ So maybe a little bit of regret means it’s OK.”

Sass is widely credited with transforming the region’s library system from a dysfunctional organization under investigation by the Sacramento County grand jury to one of the nation’s finest.

“Rivkah is an incredible force of nature,” Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said Wednesday. “She is a driving force behind a vital vision for literacy, for centers of excellence in education, for libraries.”

Library system thrived during her tenure

Under her leadership, the library won the inaugural Jerry Kline Community Impact prize in 2019, which carries a $250,000 award and was developed by the Gerald M. Kline Family Foundation and Library Journal to honor a library recognized as a “vital community asset.”

She guided the library system, the fourth largest in California, and its 28 branches through the COVID-19 pandemic without having to lay off any permanent employees.

“We did have to furlough the temporary staff, which is painful, but none of our regular career employees missed out on a paycheck,” she said. “We tried to keep everybody safe.”

When the pandemic hit and travel bans began to materialize, Sass was in Amman, Jordan, where she had been working with librarians at the Za’atari Camp in the Jordan-Syria border, the largest Syrian refugee center in the world.

She had to navigate her way back home and immediately begin working to close down the libraries to deal with the coronavirus.

Steinberg noted that Sass also allowed the downtown library to be used over the winter as a triage spot to help protect the homeless from the elements during the pandemic.

“Her willingness to use the library facilities, especially for winter triage, was really important,” the mayor said. “It’s so easy to turn away and say, ‘No, that’s not our mission.’

“In fact, the libraries, especially the downtown libraries, are a place where a lot of homeless hang out. She sees this. She’s a humanitarian at heart.”

All but the McClatchy branch of the libraries are now reopening in limited fashion currently as the pandemic appears to be waning, and Sass is credited with modernizing the libraries to offer self-checkout, online services and the “library of things,” a collection of items ranging from guitars to lawnmowers to microscopes that library users can check out for free.

‘It’s a sweet job and somebody’s going to have so much fun’

Sass came to Sacramento in 2009 from the Omaha Public Library, where was named “Librarian of the Year” in 2006 by the Library Journal.

At the time, Sacramento’s library system was embroiled in scandal. The library’s security chief, his wife and another employee had been convicted in a $780,000 maintenance over-billing scheme that a prosecutor at the time called “a classic case of public corruption.”

A library clerk who blew the whistle on the scheme later won a $343,000 settlement from the library after she sued for retaliation and claimed that then-Director Anne Marie Gold ignored her warnings.

Gold left in 2008 with a $25,000 payment from the library board in return for her resignation and a promise not to pursue legal action.

“It was a huge mess, and Rivkah stepped in and did a really good job,” said Judith Anshin, former president of the Friends of the Belle Cooledge Library. “I’m really sorry to see that she’s going.

“She’s implemented a lot of good programs and has done so much for the community.”

Sass has faced challenges in recent years, including the death of her husband, Abe, in 2016, and the December 2018 slaying of Natomas librarian Amber Clark, who was shot 11 times while sitting in her car in the library parking lot.

The accuser shooter, Ronald Seay, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in February.

Sass acknowledges she didn’t realize what a challenge she was walking into when she took the job.

“I was so naive,” she said. “I was coming from Omaha and thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be a piece of cake.’

“But it hasn’t been the easiest job in the world. It’s not for the faint of heart.”

But she said she fell in love with Sacramento, which she calls “an incredible jewel,” and says running the library was “the best job I ever had.”

“It’s a sweet job and somebody’s going to have so much fun,” she said. “But they better do a good job or I’ll be back, like the ghost of Christmas past.”

This story was originally published May 19, 2021 at 1:51 PM.