Zabonick sheds interim tag, officially director of TR Public Library

By Robert Tomlinson
News Director

THREE RIVERS — It may have taken 16 months, but Erin Zabonick can now no longer say she is the interim director of the Three Rivers Public Library.
She is the full-fledged director of the library now.
On Tuesday, the TRPL’s Board of Trustees approved the removal of the “interim” tag from Zabonick’s official position and officially offering her the position of permanent library director, effective immediately.
Along with the offer, it came with a one-time, $4,000 stipend from the library’s fund balance as what board president Linda Munro said was a “thank you” for Zabonick’s efforts in completing her Master of Library and Information Science degree, which was a requirement to be the new permanent director.
“Thank you so much for filling in, Erin, you’ve done a fantastic job, and congratulations on completing your program,” Munro said to Zabonick during the meeting. “With the loss of the township, we technically no longer require you to have your master’s, but you put in a lot of work for that, and it was a lot to get that position.”
Zabonick was named the interim director of the library back in August 2023 following the departure of former director Bobbi Schoon to be the new finance director for the City of Three Rivers. Previously, Zabonick was the assistant director for the library. The library applied for a waiver from the state in 2024 to have Zabonick appointed as an interim for an extended period of time.
She started her graduate degree program online through Indiana University Indianapolis (previously known as Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) in January of 2024, and completed it following the end of the Spring 2025 semester, which recently wrapped up. According to her transcript, which was included in the public board packet for the meeting, Zabonick received “A” grades in all the classes she took with a 4.0 grade point average.
“It feels tremendously amazing that I completed it, especially with being a mom of four, working full time, and my second-oldest daughter graduating, which was a whole thing,” Zabonick said in an interview following the meeting. “So, it feels really good to be done with that.”
Zabonick said while she learned plenty about libraries and directorship just being the interim director for just shy of two years, she said the classes she took and the degree she received were very helpful in a few ways.
“I think it will help me get more of the background knowledge into just knowing more about libraries, because you have that foundation understanding in the university program,” Zabonick said. “In terms of learning more about policy and law, it helped me get that understanding, so when I’m doing my director trainings and webinars through the state, I can be like, oh, I know what they were talking about. I also got an understanding of other ILS systems, so I got introduced to different programs that they use, so in case we ever need to upgrade or change, I have that understanding.”
During the meeting, other board members, including trustee Nikki Smith, thanked Zabonick for her hard work in achieving the degree, as well as supported the proposed stipend.
“I think you put in a lot of work, and as someone who understands student debt and what that means, I think a stipend reward is a way to show that we’re proud of you and that we support everything you did to take those classes to become a better director,” Smith said.
In all, Zabonick said the library will keep doing what they’re doing now that she is the full-fledged director of TRPL.
“We’re going to continue what we’re doing to try to reach more community members and preach about how amazing the library services are and how they’re fundamentally needed to everyone,” Zabonick said.
In other business…

• The board approved a $200 donation to the library with the request the funds be spent on children’s books. Zabonick said the donation was made by a donor in honor of another patron who she said was “very passionate about young people being active in the library and celebrating literacy.”