Michele Capozzella Named Danbury Public Library Director

Danbury is about to appoint Michele Capozzella the director of Danbury Public Library.

Capozzella joined Danbury's library in 2009 as assistant director, and she has filled in as interim director since January 1, when former director Mark Hasskarl resigned.

Capozzella attended the CityCenter meeting July 25 at Two Steps Downtown Grill, and she looked like she was "walking in Memphis
Walking with (her) feet ten feet off of Beale." She whispered she got the job.

"I'm very excited about it," Capozzella said Monday. "Libraries are changing. People have been predicting the end of libraries for years. I don't believe that. Libraries have been around for thousands of years and they keep changing."

Before coming to Danbury in 2009, Capozzella worked in New York at Chappaqua Library as the head of teen services, a job she held for 13 years.

Capozzella will oversee an addition to the library over the next year. Danbury took back the space it leased next door to Union Savings Bank, and the city and library are working on plans for that space.

She said the library is considering the lending of e-readers, but that won't happen soon. The library may borrow some for use inside the library but not lend them out yet.

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said the city had a large pool of applicants for the director's job, but Capozzella stood out. Capozzella has worked with teenage readers and children, and this summer's school-age reading program, "A Wonderland of Reading," left the children's section at standing room only Monday at about 1 p.m.

"What most impressed us is she's kept up the same level of service at the library as an interim," Boughton said. "She has vision and ideas about where the library has to go."

The City Council is likely to confirm Capozzella's appointment at its August meeting on Aug. 7.