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Booster group to run library book sale
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Karen Haave
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Frankfort Neue Press
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10.02.08
Frankfort Library Trustees, in a 6-1 vote, agreed on Thursday to allow a booster group to continue to run a highly regarded book sale that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for library "extras," but has also caused an apparently irreparable rift among staff, officials and district residents.
The meeting pitted residents and Board President Kay MacNeil against staff and six library trustees: Rosemary Georgen, Lynn Grever, Richard Schmidt, John Tylk, Rick Jones and Christina Ruiz.
MacNeil, who organized the book sale 30 years ago and continued to run it over the years, was displaced from her role earlier this summer after a temporary librarian decided that the sale needed to be scaled back and moved to a small area off to the side of the building.
The librarian, Mary Sue Brown, is an interim employee from Mary Jane Kepner & Associates consulting firm and was hired only to fill the vacancy until a permanent director could be found. She said the tables full of used books, toys, and sometimes, odd and ends, were unsightly, messy and created numerous safety hazards. Brown abruptly turned the sale over to The Friends of the Frankfort Public Library, a low-profile support groupwith modest success at fundraising.
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Ironically, the Friends was organized by MacNeil, as well, 30 years ago, just after the Pfeiffer Road library was built.
Meanwhile, the board clearly supported the July change, but did not immediately take official action on the fate of the book sale or MacNeil's function in it.
On Thursday, after a tension-filled meeting that at times stretched Roberts Rules of Order, the board formally turned the book sale over to the Friends.
But the board majority left the door open for MacNeil to continue her efforts on behalf of the library and the book sale by joining forces with the Friends.
Library Trustee Lynn Grever told The Frankfort Neue Presse later that she felt it is regrettable that so much "inaccurate information" about the issue has been circulated, and also that MacNeil's feelings have been hurt.
She said that the board is grateful for all of MacNeil's volunteer efforts on behalf of the library, including the book sale. "Kay deserves all the credit," Grever said.
But, she added that, while the book sale is smaller in scope, it is thriving and probably will be expanded again once or twice a year for special sales. She also emphasized that under the Friends, the sale continues to generate lucrative funding ($2,500 last month) that goes back into the library.
She said it is not true that books are being thrown into the Dumpster. Only those that are very moldy or seriously soiled are discarded, she said. (However, a resident who asked not to be named said he retrieved dozens of books from the Dumpster and sold them at a flea market for over $100 recently.)
Grever also defended Brown's decision to change the sale, and explained that the board did not immediately take action on it "because that would be micro-managing." She said the board sets policy, but not about day-to-day operations issues, such as the sale and the Bookmobile.
Now that the board has made a formal decision, she noted, "We are done talking about it."
The downsizing of the book sale resulted in an uproar never before seen at the 30-year-old library, with residents protesting via dozens of letters to newspapers, complaints to staff and board members, and admonishments that they will not support the upcoming 2009 building referendum.
Some 43 residents signed in on public comment sheets for Thursday's meeting, and another 15 were present, but did not sign the lists. Salaried staff members were in the audience, along with Brown, library business staffer Michelle Caputo and newly hired Director Pierre Gregoire.
The meeting produced an abundance of praise for MacNeil's efforts as book sale coordinator and tireless community/library volunteer.
But it also generated an odd assortment of charges against her, ranging from very serious in nature to hardly believable, including threatening board colleagues, causing a man to be bitten by a six-foot-long black snake, causing a pregnant staffer to trip over books, allowing fire code violations within the building, trespassing in staff members' offices, and breaking the law protecting Americans with disabilities.
Most of the residents said during the meeting that they loved the book sale; some said they wanted it back the way it was. Many also said they felt the animosity evident among officials needed to be resolved.
Library trustees also spoke, and at least two of them accused MacNeil of "threatening" them in letters she wrote last summer "to ask each of you to help me end (the) discord" at the library.
For the record, The Frankfort Neue Presse has obtained copies of the letters that were sent to all members of the board. The letters do not actually issue threats toward the members of the board, although MacNeil's writing made it clear that she was unhappy about the book sale management change. She also pressed for a reversal of Brown's decision.
"This board will never achieve the tranquility that existed before Mary Sue Brown's arrival, if some mutual effort isn't made by each and every one of you," she wrote.
She emphasized in the letters that she would withdraw from active participation in the book sale, if the board continued to allow the Friends to run it, and from the myriad volunteer activities that she has performed over the years.
Brown and some trustees repeatedly interrupted MacNeil during Thursday's meeting, and ultimately, she opted not to defend herself. But when trustees accused her of threats, she snapped, "Yes, I threatened to not volunteer at the Frankfort Library anymore, just like none of you do."
Meanwhile, staff members at Thursday's meeting voiced their complaints, which were reiterated when Brown gave her lengthy statement.
Even before the meeting began, the animosity between Brown and MacNeil was evident, as she angrily chastized the board president for not having what she believed to be an appropriate sign-in sheet. MacNeil, clearly struggling to maintain her composure, replied that the sheets with comments for the new director's perusal would suffice, and that she would ask after all the signed names had been called, if anyone else wished to make comments.
Brown made her comments after everyone finished speaking. She had been out of the office for a month, and was unavailable for comment, but on Thursday, she listed each of her concerns, and apparently those of some staff members, as well.
She said:
"It would have been easy to ignore what I perceived as a serious problem in the library where I had served as Interim Director for only a few days. My feeling then and now is that it would have been irresponsible for me not to have acted as I did, turning the Used Book Sale over to the Friends of the Library, the same group to which Kay Macneil had belonged before she became a library trustee.
"The reasons for my decision are these.
"There is a clear line between the responsibilities of library trustee and library director. When Trustee MacNeil took control of the used book sale, she entered a de facto supervisor/supervisee relationship with the staff that eroded the underlying principle of good sound public library governance, that is,
"The Library Board of Trustees hires the library director and sets policy. Under those policies, the library director has responsibility for all library operations.
"Staff were uneasy about receiving orders from Trustee MacNeil as well as her habit of entering their offices and interrupting their work. They asked Library Director Detlev Pansch to do something about their concerns. When Detlef Pansch brought this to Trustee MacNeil, he was rebuffed.
"There were violations of Fire Code. Twice the Fire Department cited the library - first n 2004 and again in 2007 - because the exit from the Bookmobile bay was completely blocked with boxes of books.
"When I observed the area in early July, the door was completely blocked by boxes heavy with books. These boxes would have been impossible to move out of the way in a timely manner if fire or smoke broke out in the area.
"The library was out of compliance with ADA provisions. Aisles must be 36" wide and at every two ranges there must be a turnaround area of at least 60".
"These spaces were often reduced to 24" because of the boxes on the floor and the tables.
"While pregnant, Melissa Rice tripped over the boxes left outside her office.
"Boxes on the floor present a serious barrier to people with low or limited vision, particularly glaucoma patients whose impaired peripheral vision blocks out much of what is beneath eye level.
"Boxes on the floor also create a particular hazard for anyone with reduced ability to walk.
"On July 3, one of the patrons was bitten by a large black snake. The man's hand was bleeding and he went to his physician. The snake was in the area between the outside and inside automatic doors.
"Because the area was part of the Giant Book Sale and people were milling about, the doors were open much of the time and the snake either was in one of the boxes or had emerged from the garden outside. Fortunately the man did not sue. It was also fortunate that the victim was not a small child.
"Overall library operations and the staff's ability to provide good library service are constrained by both the Giant Book Sale and the ongoing book sale. Sale books are within two feet of the circulating collection. Patrons had to move carts of sale books to get at audio books. Patrons brought circulating materials to the desk thinking that they could purchase them. The crowding caused by the tables and boxes of books prevent good access to the Reserve Books and much of the AV collection.
"During the Giant Book Sale, which is held at the same time as the Summer Reading Programs Ð the library's busiest months - staff at the Circulation Desk deal not only with the increased load placed on them by selling a large volume of books, but because each book is individually priced, they must look at the small tag on each book to determine the cost.
"Over the years, staff report that they receive regular complaints from the public about the mess that the book sale creates. Some said that they were embarrassed or ashamed of the library.
"The funds raised by the Friends through their ongoing efforts and now through the Book Sale are used exclusively for the needs of the library. Friends President Therese Stinnett, a long time ardent library supporter, is dedicated to the well being of the library.
"Yes the Used Book Sale did bring in about $25,000. last year but the library has paid a heavy price for that money, a price that could have been far greater if the constant jeopardy in which the library was placed had resulted in a serious accident.
"I hope that this answers some questions. I am sorry that my action wounded Trustee MacNeil. Had I to do it over, I would have said, "Kay, we need to talk" and suggested lunch. I'm not sure that the outcome would have been different."
After Brown finished reading her statement, the board majority quickly moved to make the book sale management change official.
Although MacNeil was attempting to give a comment, Trustee Rick Jones said loudly, "I make a motion that we leave the book sale with the Friends of the Library."
Ruiz seconded the motion and MacNeil asked for a roll call vote. Only MacNeil voted "no."
The $25,000-plus the book sale earned last year under MacNeil's administration was enough to cover several items in the library district's budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008. For example, the funds would have purchased 66 percent of the youth books ($39,200), staff health care contributions ($26,000), professional training costs ($20,200) or programming ($25,100), or professional legal and accounting services ($19,000).
Later in Thursday's meeting, meanwhile, the board also continued its discussion of the spring 2009 referendum for a new library building. Six trustees voted in favor of the tear-down of the old building and construction, in phases, of a new one. MacNeil had gone on record at an earlier meeting saying that she preferred a three-story addition to the old facility, with a main floor, second floor and basement.
MacNeil's only comment later was that she is "extremely sorry" that the interim director felt it necessary to draw employees into the equation.
"I know Mary Sue Brown is often quoted as saying that all the staff is opposed to a robust book sale that makes a lot of money, but I personally know that all the staff is not opposed to a bigger sale.
"If you were in favor of the former look of the book sale, would you have had the courage to come forward? Of course not. It is outrageous for a library professional to pit staff members against each other. Kay's camp? Mary Sue's? It is outrageous that Frankfort Library trustees have allowed an outsider to come between friends of 30 years, creating chaos," MacNeil said.
"Many of the Friends of the Library members started as my book sale volunteers years ago, and it saddens me to see the chaos we have let the interim create."
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