Susan served as the Director and Chief Executive of The Branch Libraries for the New York Public Library from 2004 through 2007 where she was responsible for the operation of the 87 branch libraries. For the ten years prior to assuming this position, she was the City Librarian for the Los Angeles Public Library, a library system that included a Central Library and 71 branch libraries that underwent a massive facilities infrastructure improvement program with 62 new or renovated branch libraries and major improvements to the Central Library. She also served as the Director of the Minneapolis Public Library where she led the planning effort for a new Central Library.

Susan has been actively engaged in professional activities in multiple leadership roles.  She served as the Chair of the Executive Board of the Urban Libraries Council, the President of the Public Library Association, a member of the Council of the American Library Association and a Board Member of the Council on Library and Information Resources.  In 2015, Susan was appointed the Chair of the Advisory Committee for the American Library Association’s Center for the Future of Libraries. 

Susan has been honored by the American Library Association with the Lippincott Award for “distinguished service to the profession of librarianship”, the Public Library Association with the Charles Robinson Award for “creativity and innovation” as a library director and was named “Librarian of the Year by Library Journal.