Inquiring mind

SELF PORTRAITDate and place of birth: Dec. 15, 1966, Beaumont, Texas Family: Wife, Holly; daughter, Celia, 15; son, Russ, 13 When I was growing up, the worst thing my mom could do was take my football away.

When I was a kid, my heroes were Alberto Salazar and Tony Dorsett.

My fi rst job was holding down a paper route.

Favorite concert I attended: It’s a tie between KISS at Barton Coliseum in Little Rock in 1977 and Bob Dylan at Mud Island, Memphis, 1988.

My favorite album is Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Texas Flood.

If I had an extra hour in the day, I’d play guitar more.

The movie I’ve watched the most: Smokey and the Bandit Something you may be surprised to learn about me: I’ve been struck by lightning.

My favorite book is The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson.

When I’m on a plane, I read The New Yorker.

My best tip for an avid reader: Have fun, don’t over-think your choices.

I’d like to know more about biblical history.

I consider myself an eternal optimist.

A word or two to sum me up: Insatiably curiousFAYETTEVILLE - Books and music have been a centerpiece of David Johnson’s life as far back as he can remember.

Being the son of a journalist and a librarian meant that new albums were always on the doorstep; family outings were often to concerts and when he got interested in something new, magazines and books on the topic would magically appear in the living room and on the dining table, just waiting for him.

His insatiable thirst for information and entertainment isn’t limited to the Fayetteville Public Library, where he’s the executive director. In the home he shares with his wife and two children, each room has bookshelves filled to the brim, and their record collection is gigantic.

Early on, that availability of information encouraged Johnson, now 46, to explore many things like fishing, running, and Civil War history. If he had an inkling, it was time to research, and his parents always helped guide him to form an educated opinion about a topic.

His elementary school librarian fostered that brimming curiosity too, and as a child he frequently foundhimself on the floor in front of her office just to see what she was doing. She was friendly and instructive, while also firm and quick to discipline. She could tell when Johnson wasn’t putting his best effort into an assignment.

“No matter what you were interested in, Mrs. Moore would find something for you,” Johnson said. “She pushed, she challenged you to read beyond your grade level. She wouldn’t accept that [less than best effort.]”

His pursuit of information meant he explored in all manner of ways to get it.

“David is intelligent, curious and gregarious,” said Danny Bryant, who met Johnson at Horace Mann Junior High School in Little Rock, became his college roommate and is still a neighbor. As teenagers, the two spent many weekends exploring Arkansas equipped with only a car and a map from a convenience store - a practice that sometimes resulted in odd encounters.

“It wasn’t [traditionally] educational, but it wasgreat entertainment,” Bryant said.

Johnson consumed information by reading, exploring, writing, and listening to others. By high school, he thought he would become an artist and tried to enroll in an art class, but the attempt was thwarted and he landed in a communication class instead - an unwelcome change at the time.

The instructor, Mr. Boozey, was a game-changer who made communication class not just tolerable; he made it interesting. So interesting that Johnson began to understand the power of language.

When he went to undergraduate school at the University of Arkansas, his widely varying interests were overwhelming. He wanted to be a doctor … no, a reporter … wait … an actor. He ended up changing his major six times.

During the months leading up to the 1988 presidential election, Johnson took a film class that sealed the deal. It focused on the televised debates and political commentary, which made him realize communication was a viable and interesting career field.

“You can actually go study those things?” he said while flipping through the course catalog. “I thought, ‘Wow, that’s going to be something I can stick with.’ I was so interested in what I was learning I was actually applying myself.”

The difference was apparent even to his teachers.

“I was immediately impressed,” said Stephen Smith, professor of communication at the University of Arkansas who taught Johnson in one of his political communication classes. “Not only was he curious, he was mature in his approach to questions and [considered] things in a thoughtful way.”

Johnson earned a bachelor of arts in communication and quickly proceeded to earn a master’s degree in it, too.

After college, he realized how much he had enjoyed teaching as a graduate student, and he accepted a position at Westark Community College, now the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, teaching four sections of speech communication while managing an apartment complex.

He appreciated the opportunity, but Fort Smith wasn’t home and being a landlord wasn’t quite what he had in mind. So during a ritual Sunday afternoon phone conversation with his mother, she encouraged him to consider library school, and he realized that course of study resonated with his strengths.

“Part of what I really liked about the master’s program was going to the library and finding the materials I needed,” he said. “I liked the hunt, I liked going out and finding the things.”

Johnson loved Fayetteville, but the university didn’t have a library science program. So he took out a map and drew a line straight across until he hit the nearest city that had one.

It was Knoxville, Tenn.

COMING HOME

Johnson worked in the Hodges Library at the University of Tennessee and earned his master’s degree in library science. After graduation, he held down two part-time jobs on campus while his girlfriend Holly was working for the American Cancer Society.

For her, getting to know Johnson meant quickly realizing just how much he loved to read.

“I remember having dinner with him one night and faking how much I liked On the Road by Jack Kerouac, so he would think I was cool,” said Holly Johnson, David’s wife of nearly 20 years. One of her favorite memories of him was during their time in Tennessee.

“He had an apartment by the university and I had one about seven miles away,” she said. “[During] a record snowfall … he walked [that] seven miles in the snow to come eat canned food with me in my freezing apartment.”

Johnson had been dating Holly for years by that point. His part-time jobs afforded him no health insurance orbenefits of any kind, so he knew a better life for them depended on a change of job and change of location.

He found a job teaching Internet skills at a Louisiana State University location in Eunice, La., and proposed to Holly. After a wedding back home in Little Rock, the young couple settled in Louisiana. Their neighbors spoke Cajun French and the newlyweds spent a lot of time soaking up the culture and taking long drives to count alligators and explore.

The Johnsons were happy to experience new things, but they couldn’t see themselves raising a family in Louisiana. Not when Fayetteville still felt like home.

Holly had built a successful career as a grant writer for nonprofit organizations, so she was reluctant to move anywhere that would compromise that, and Johnson still dreamed of getting into library work, so they navigated the delicate terrain of finding two ideal jobs in one town.

“At a certain point in time, you start asking, ‘Am I ever going to get back to that [dream]?’” Johnson said. “It turned out that when we wanted to come back to Fayetteville, an opportunity at Fayetteville Public Library … came open at the same time that a development grant-writing opportunity opened at Washington Regional [Medical Center], so we were able to come back.’’A LABOR OF LOVE

When Johnson joined the Fayetteville Public Libraryteam as head of reference in 1995, it was located on East Dickson Street and known as the Roberta Fulbright Library. The building had been built because of a growing need for more space in 1962, and he found that the library was once again outgrowing its location.

The building’s 24,000 square feet of space was a place where people came to collect materials and leave. Computers, which were increasingly more popular with the public, were nowhere to be seen.

In Johnson’s two years at the Roberta Fulbright Library, he tried a number of new things. First, he had computers installed. Then, he looked at amenities at other flagship libraries and began longing for the Fayetteville library to have a coffee shop of its own. He started small by striking up a partnership with Cary Arsaga, owner ofArsaga’s Fayetteville Coffee Roasters, to place a couple of French presses on a table on a Saturday to test the plan. He also realized that not everyone was able to come to the library in person, so he established the Lending Hands program, which coordinates with Meals on Wheels and sends a bag of books and DVDs with the regular delivery of food about once a week.

Meanwhile, Johnson’s family was growing, so he took an information systems position with Tyson Foods Inc.

In 15 years at Tyson, Johnson received education and training that he would’ve missed out on if he’d stayedin libraries all these years.

“I learned a lot of different business processes and how things work in a big company,” he said.

His experiences there fully prepared him to be the library director, as friends of the library can attest.

“David started a monthly series bringing in business leaders to meet with library managers to visit about [forthcoming] leadership,” said Kim Agee, president of the Fayetteville Public Library Board of Trustees. “It’s a great example of what he brings from his experience from Tyson, a lot of connection and a lot of nonlibrary ways of looking at the world.

“We really benefit from that.” NEW LIBRARY

While Johnson was still at Tyson, some of his former co-workers at Roberta Fulbright began the plans for a new, larger library, and 36 public input sessions helped those plans take shape. Though he wasn’t employed by the library at the time or directly involved, Johnson did attend the sessions as a patron.

“I thought some day I would be able to be the director,” he said. “I didn’t know how, didn’t know when. And then it kind of all fell out. It happened.”

The 88,000-square-feet Blair Library opened on West Mountain Street in October 2004. It is filled with computers, e-readers and other technology; a variety of meeting space for small study groups and large entertainmentspaces; a teen library that is separate from the children’s space; and a couple of reading rooms.

The library became the first building in Arkansas to be registered with the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification program, an honor soon followed by the 2005 national Library of the Year award, sponsored by Library Journal and Thompson/Gale Publishers, and a 2006 American Landmark Library award from TravelSmart newsletter.

Johnson’s hopes were realized in February 2012. The library’s executive director resigned in August 2011. Johnson jumped at the chance and the library board chose him over another finalist for the position.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Johnson’s ideal library - one with an emphasis on experience and interacting with people - has become a reality, but it’s not done yet.

“In terms of vision for the library, his is spot on,” Smith said. “He has a passion for Fayetteville and making the library be all that it can be. He’s bringing a vision to it, not just as a manager, but helping it grow as our community grows.”

Recently the library bought the City Hospital property, located immediately south of the library property. The library board, after 12 public public input sessions, determined the library needed an additional 80,000 square feet for meeting space and event seating. The old hospital location holds the possibility of a 750-seat auditorium, and the use plan for the four-acre property allows for the likelihood of more growth later.

“Everybody has a library story and everybody has ownership; everybody’s going to want to have a part in changing it, building an addition, and he’s been very sensitive to those issues … having so many talks and public input sessions,” Agee said.

Johnson and the library staff will work to keep the library as a convenient resource and place for the community to connect. The staff would like to develop a digital commons area to provide a special computer laboratory where each device has the full Adobe software suite, perhaps some 3-D printers, meeting space for teams to hold conferences with sister companies in other states and countries, and a large bank of e-readers or other technology,similar to an Apple bar.

Johnson’s vision continues to expand.

Down the road are library branches, where no Fayetteville resident has to drive more than 15 minutes to a location, where children can have access to homework resources and reading materials, bike trail access and a trail terminal that allows families to park their bikes and enjoy refreshments before attending programming or picking up materials.

“He loves the library,” Holly Johnson said. “He doesn’t mind being there anytime the doors are open. It’s truly his dream job and a labor of love for the community.”