Georgia Public Library Service (GPLS) has announced that Jill Prouty, library administrator for Peachtree City, has been selected to attend the inaugural class of the Pinnacle Institute.

Pinnacle was designed by GPLS along with the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, a unit of the University of Georgia, to provide a comprehensive training program for the next generation of Georgia’s public library leaders. The curriculum includes sessions on situational leadership, time management, analytical and creative problem solving, financial management and performance measures, human resource management and administrative law, managing conflict and group dynamics, ethics, power, best practices, process improvement, project coaching, media relations, leadership in a political environment, and effective presentations.

The Pinnacle selection process was highly competitive and State Librarian Dr. Lamar Veatch describes those selected as an “elite group of future leaders.” GPLS selected only 20 librarians state-wide for the class of 2008. Others selected from the southern arc include Jimmy Bass, director of the Newnan-Coweta Public Library.

Peachtree City Library has flourished under Prouty’s leadership. Employed by the City of Peachtree City since 1998, Prouty served as the project coordinator for the 2005 library expansion. Library use is now at an all-time high with over 250,000 visits in FY06, a 40 percent increase since the new library opened. Circulation is keeping pace with a 45 percent increase during the same time period, making Peachtree City Library the busiest public library in Fayette County as well as in the Flint River Regional Library System.

The Pinnacle curriculum begins with an expense-paid week-long retreat in November at Unicoi State Park and Lodge, and then continues with eight monthly two-day sessions held at various locations around the state. Graduation will be held in Athens at the Georgia Council of Media Organizations convention in October of 2008.

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