$110,000 Settlement Paid To Ex-Evanston Librarian Lesley Williams

EVANSTON, IL — Evanston taxpayers shelled out a $110,000 settlement to former librarian Lesley Williams, who resigned last month after facing termination for a social media post critical of the Evanston Public Library's equity policies, according to information released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Evanston Review. Williams resignation followed a termination hearing and an earlier suspension in 2017. But documents previously obtained by Patch show members of the library's board have wanted to her out for years.

As part of the confidential settlement, which was paid out of the city's Library Fund, Williams was asked to sign a non-disparagement agreement restricting her ability to criticize the library, but she told Patch she declined.

"I didn't want the argument to be about money," she said. "I wanted it to be about my integrity and to be able to talk freely about what was going on in the library."

Representatives of the library also sought to draft a public statement to which both sides could agree stating that Williams was quitting to "spend more time pursuing her community service interests or to allow her greater time and ability to advocate for underrepresented segments of Evanston's population," Patch has learned.

Williams said she declined this proposal as well.

If she had stayed on at EPL, Williams said she is not sure if she would have been able to be effective.

"It's been getting more difficult over the past three years, and as we now know from the emails there had been an ongoing, persistent campaign to get rid of me. I was beginning to feel no matter what I did they would try to get rid of me," she said.

Williams, who spent two decades with the library and was most recently its head of adult services, said that as long as her employment was in dispute, the library could "hide behind a personnel issue." Now that she's gone, "the library can no longer avoid confronting issues of equity," she said.

» Lesley Williams Resigns From Evanston Public Library

At a meeting earlier this month, the board agreed to contract an outside consultant to conduct an "equity review" of the library. Library Director Karen Danczak Lyons said it would be an "assessment" rather than an "audit" because no demographic information is collected directly from patrons.

The EPL board also shuffled a few titles, with the former treasurer becoming president and a new vice president being selected.

Although the board levies taxes, the Evanston residents who pay those taxes do not get to elect its members. Mayor Steve Hagerty, who is responsible for appointing library trustees, decided this month not to place any new members on the board or reappoint existing members.

In a blog entry posted Tuesday, Hagerty said he determined he "should wait until the equity review is complete to appoint or reappoint Board members."

At a library board meeting Wednesday, library officials said seven undisclosed consultants are being considered. Recommendations will be presented at the August meeting, so it is unlikely that the assessment will get started for several months. Depending how long the process takes, it could be more than a year before Hagerty appoints a single new member to the board.

Hagerty did not respond Thursday to a request for comment about his social media posts.

Related:

• Evanston librarian Lesley Williams says "intense and vindictive" action is being taken against her.
• Library board wanted Lesley Williams gone for her "adversarial and incorrigible attitude," confidential performance review comments show.
• Library director seeks to terminate Lesley Williams over a social media post about equity policies.

Top photo: Lesley Williams | Credit: Jonah Meadows, Patch