Evanston Deletes Documents Showing Board Wanted Popular Librarian Out For Years

EVANSTON, IL — A little more than a day after Patch reported on internal Evanston Public Library emails, thousands of pages of documents were abruptly removed from the city's online public records data portal Friday night. The documents had been obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request filed in April and were publicly available for more than three weeks before being removed.

The documents provided evidence to support the claims made by embattled librarian Lesley Williams that she has been targeted by the library's board and administration for years. The emails demonstrate members of the board wanted to fire Williams, the popular and politically active 21-year librarian who is currently facing termination as head of adult services for the Evanston Public Library, going all the way back to 2014.

This week, the documents had been shared and downloaded among Williams' supporters after Williams was notified of her potential firing after allegedly creating an "unhealthy work environment" for co-workers with a May 28 social media post. Williams made the post from her personal Facebook account and tagged the library soon after after returning from a 15-day suspension for "engaging in unhealthy communications and behavior" with fellow library employees.

The results of a "pre-disciplinary meeting" held Friday, which could result in her termination, are expected by the middle of next week. Williams' supporters assembled outside the meeting and placed phone calls to Evanston Mayor Steve Hagerty. They argued Williams has been targeted for her outspoken advocacy on behalf of equitable distribution of library resources to Evanston's low-income and under-served communities.

“The Library’s attempt to silence Lesley suggests that, in addition to resisting sharing library resources more equitably with all parts of the Evanston community, the Library Director is afraid of words. I would have thought the Library, of all institutions, would protect freedom of expression and recognize it as an inalienable right," said Williams' attorney Joshua Karsh outside the hearing Friday. “The EPL Board President’s statement that equity and diversity are ‘embedded’ in the library’s ‘DNA’ is both impeached by the facts and incredibly tone deaf.” (Sign up for our free daily newsletters and Breaking News Alerts from the Evanston Patch.)

Board Comments Describe Wanting Williams Gone

Some of the 3843 pages of documents that were removed from the city's website included the comments from members of the board as part of the 2015 annual performance review of Evanston library director Karen Danczak Lyons. In the comments, at least two unidentified members of the board acknowledge efforts to fire Williams as early as September 2014.

"My only concern here," one commented, "is [Danczak Lyons'] reluctance to let Lesley Williams go. We met with her in [executive] session, at her insistence, and she told us that she was going to do that. This session on [sic] was in September, and [Williams] is still on the staff."

The comments also show that Danczak Lyons' largely positive performance review was docked in the spring of 2015 for not having fired Williams already.

"Lesley Williams' continued adversarial and incorrigible attitude is what prevents me from giving [Danczak Lyons] the highest mark," one wrote.

While some board members noted the difficulty of judging Danczak Lyons' relationship with co-workers and suggested the director may "take some conflicts too personally," others speculated that other members of the library staff also wanted Williams out.

"The Lesley Williams situation remains festering and unresolved to the disappointment of the Board and probably, of staff as well," another comment said.

Those comments date from just a few months after the controversy over the library's rescinding of an invitation to a Palestinian-American author for which Williams said she was "scapegoated," considerably before the first disciplinary complaint filed against Williams by administrators. (In July 2015, she was suspended, with no pre-disciplinary hearing, over claims she had overstepped her role in expressing support for preserving a Winnetka library genealogical collection, documents show.)

"During the Ali Abunimah fiasco, where [Williams] blindsided her, she kept her dignity and the whole business faded away," said another 2015 comment on Danczak Lyons' evaluation.

Danczak Lyons has not responded to repeated requests for comments about library policies and practices, although in her evaluation of her own performance she praised her media communications skills "to underscore the role of the Evanston Public Library as the place to gather as a community and explore difficult topics."

» Related: Evanston Librarian Suspended 15 Days After Board Backs Director

Since 2012, the Evanston Public Library has been a separate tax entity from the city. Its board of trustees are appointed by the mayor. Last year, the volunteer board eliminated its six-year term limits. Three current trustees have terms expiring at the end of the month: Vice-President Margaret Lurie — who described Williams as the "thorn in our side" and said she would rather resign than see the library undergo an equity audit, according to emails — Co-Treasurer Shawn Illes and Secretary Vaishali.

Danczak Lyons, the former deputy commissioner of the Chicago Public Library, is the sixth highest-paid Evanston employee, according to city documents. Only the city manager, chief of police, city attorney, deputy city manager and director of public works are paid more than her annual salary of $165,000 and nearly $40,000 in benefits. Her contract was renewed by the Evanston Public Library board in April.

Following the renewal of her contract, the board issued a statement decrying "offensive" and "unsubstantiated social media attacks" that "threaten to burn the bridges EPL has sought to build" in response to criticism of its commitment to minority and low-income communities.

The documents were removed from the city's website because they contained portions of the library director's performance evaluation, which are not subject to disclosure under public records laws, Evanston City Clerk Devon Reid confirmed Saturday. The rest of the document will be re-posted, he said.

Despite the removal of the documents, supporters of Williams continue to share images from them on social media.

Top photo | Lesley Williams | Courtesy: Heidi Levin