Jill Mercurio, who’s led the Newton Free Library for five years, is leaving for a job in Brookline.

As reported by Vivi Smilgius at the Brookline News, the Brookline Public Library’s Board of Trustees voted last week to enter contract negotiations with Mercurio for that library’s director position.

Mercurio started at the Newton Free Library—the largest single-location library in Massachusetts—in February 2011 as a children’s services supervisor. She was promoted to librarian in 2014 and to library director in 2020. Mercurio led the library through the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, when many libraries around the country had to rapidly change services to accommodate a remote new normal.

The Brookline Public Library Board of Directors chose Mercurio over Cambridge Public Library’s assistant director, Erin Wells.

“I’m experienced, I’ve done the job, and I’ve done it in a way that I feel preserves my integrity and my passion,” Mercurio said. “I want to be that phone-a-friend for my librarians, for my staff.”

So, we can add a new library director to the list of leadership roles across Mayor-elect Marc Laredo will have to fill when he takes the corner office at City Hall next month.

You can read more about Mercurio’s new chapter on Brookline News.