Library Society has new leader

The Charleston Library Society has named local historian, teacher and writer Anne Walker Cleveland as its new executive director.

In her first month, Cleveland already has started making changes at the 261-year-old institution, including a campaign to attract new members to the private library.

"We are extremely happy," said Benjamin Allston Moore, president of the Library Society. "She has already started to do things to the Library Society that are going to be of great benefit."

Moore says Cleveland is focused on attracting young professionals and others who don't know what the library has to offer.

The Charleston Library Society, which opened in 1748, is the oldest cultural institution in the South and the third-oldest library in the country. The King Street facility -- opened to anyone willing to pay $75 annually for a family membership -- is both a traditional library and a research facility with an impressive collection of rare books, letters and papers spanning the city's history.

Cleveland is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Smith College. Over the years she has taught history and English literature. Most recently she worked in development at Charleston Collegiate School and served as a writing consultant at the Charleston School of Law.

She replaces Eric Emerson, who was hired as executive director -- then a new position for the library -- in December 2006.

Emerson, a historian and author, left the Library Society at the beginning of August to take over as director of the S.C. Department of Archives and History in Columbia.

"We hated to lose Eric," Moore said, "but Anne Cleveland is outstanding, very innovative."