The Directors: Seven Holders, Humphreys to Murphy

1889 – present · as of November 2026

Seven people have headed this system in 137 years; the current holder, Stephanie Murphy, took the office on 1 July 2022 — after running the library of the town next door. The succession is the system's own history page, read whole, with the titles shifting as the record itself shifts them — Head Librarian, then Library Director, then Executive Director. Evelyn Humphreys, first Head Librarian, 1889–1903. Virginia M. Tutt, second Head Librarian, 1903–1927; the Tutt Branch of 1928 was named for her. Ethel Baker, third Head Librarian, appointed 1927 and served until 1952, having joined the library in 1908. Roger B. Francis, appointed Library Director in 1952, served until 1977; the Clay Branch was later renamed for him. Donald Napoli, appointed Library Director in 1977 — "the longest term," the history page says, "from age 36 to 73" — retired 30 June 2015; two 2015 carriers fix the end the history page leaves open, a trade-press notice and a South Bend Common Council resolution honoring "more than 37 years" of service, and both 2015 carriers count him the fifth director in the system's 126-year history, with all nine branch libraries built under his leadership — Humphreys, Tutt, Baker, Francis, Napoli: the count checks against this succession exactly. Debra Futa, appointed Executive Director in 2015, had served the system since 1979 — River Park, Francis, systems coordination, financial services, and nineteen years as assistant director — and her retirement took effect 31 March 2022; the system's own notice credits her with involvement in every major building project of her twenty-five years in leadership, the North Liberty building among them. Stephanie Murphy, appointed by the board effective 1 July 2022, is the seventh holder and the current one: the board's own page carries her "Present Term of Appointment: July 1, 2022 – Current," and board minutes of December 2025 and April 2026 list her in attendance giving the director's report; the as-of for her holding is November 2026. She came to the system from the directorship of the New Carlisle-Olive Township Public Library, which she had held since 2017 — the library of the town eight miles west, whose own build in this history was dug in the same county programme — after earlier roles at La Porte County Public Library. One interval in the line is unaccounted for: Futa's retirement took effect 31 March 2022 and Murphy's term begins 1 July 2022, and no carrier opened names an interim or acting director for April through June 2022; the interval banks as a named gap (G-LIB-4), its settler the board minutes of March through July 2022.