Evanston Librarian Suspended 15 Days After Board Backs Director

EVANSTON, IL — An internal human resources disciplinary hearing for an Evanston librarian drew a crowd last week and prompted a public statement from the Evanston Public Library board Tuesday. On Wednesday, librarian Lesley Williams responded with a public statement and the following day she was told she has been issued a 15 day suspension.

Dozens of supporters of Williams, head of adult services at EPL, attended her hearing last Thursday. Some argued that she has been facing retaliation for her support of more equitable distribution of library resources.

Rev. Dr. Michael Nabors, president of the Evanston/North Shore NAACP, said "something is wrong with the Evanston Public Library" suspending Williams, the city's only African-American librarian. He said she has has produced amazing results, "Not just for African Americans but for every marginalized group, for every single group that stands on the fringes, Lesley Williams is an advocate, she is a speaker, she is a fighter and we need her in Evanston as badly as we need anybody."

"The Evanston Public Library's most recent disciplinary action against Lesley Williams is in direct proportion to various actions leadership has taken over the years to suppress efforts that promote racial equity," said Tiffany Rice, President of the Dajae Coleman Foundation, author of an open letter critical of the library's director.

After more than two decades on the job with no record of suspension, Williams has now faced discipline twice since the city's library hired Danczak-Lyons as director. She said the first incident, involving a genealogy collection at the Winnetka Public Library, led to a suspension despite no official hearing process and witnesses who could have disproven claims made against her. Williams said she believes she is being pressured to leave her position.

After Danczak-Lyons took over, the library's handling of an invitation to local Palestinian-American author Ali Abunimah prompted a public outcry and apology from the library. This incident appears to have increased tension between the two co-workers regarding policies over "balance" in presentations. Danczak-Lyons declined to respond to emails requesting information on the library's policy on balancing controversial subjects.

Evanston's library is financed by a property tax levy and is supervised by a board of trustees appointed by the mayor. It shares some departments, such as human resources and legal, with the City of Evanston.

This week, the library's board issued a statement of strong support for director Danczak-Lyons saying "by any subjective or objective criterion" the library was experiencing a renaissance since the board hired her. Williams responded Wednesday, questioning why she was receiving "intense and vindictive action." The following day, Williams said she was informed she has been suspended 15 days.

Find both statements in full below.

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April 25 Evanston Public Library Board of Trustees Statement

On April 19, 2017, the Evanston Public Library Board of Trustees renewed the annual employment contract of our Director, Karen Danczak Lyons. The hiring and evaluation of our director are powers granted to us under state law. We take these responsibilities very seriously. Collectively, our Board has lived in Evanston for more than 200 years. We are volunteers, having been appointed by the Mayor and approved by the City Council.

On April 20, 2017, a crowd of demonstrators gathered at the Civic Center and protested potential disciplinary action to be taken by EPL against Lesley Williams. The Evanston Roundtable has reported that the protesters did not know why Ms. Williams was being disciplined, and this is not surprising. Typically, personnel matters are confidential. The unsubstantiated social media attacks on EPL undermine our strategic plan; demoralize our wonderful and hard-working staff; and threaten to burn the bridges EPL has sought to build throughout our city.

Further, these recent attacks convey the innuendo that no other EPL employee promotes social harmony, equity, and racial justice. That is flatly wrong and it is offensive. Someone famous once said it takes a village to raise a child. Likewise, it takes more than one librarian, however smart, to implement a strategic plan, create awesome and occasionally controversial programs, and to bring library services outside our walls. It takes an entire library staff to do these things—from concierges to circulation to adult services and to every other department in our library. Our job as Board Trustees is easy because EPL’s entire staff from top to bottom is dedicated, skilled, and innovative.

The Board does not meddle in the Director’s day- to-day management, oversight or discipline of EPL personnel. These duties are within the province of the Director under state law. Nonetheless, the Board has elemental expectations of all EPL staff:

• EPL employees from top to bottom are expected to work together collaboratively and collegially and to treat each other with dignity and respect. These expectations have been codified in the City’s commitment to a healthy work environment and in the City’s personnel manual. That manual clearly sets forth norms of performance and behavior and outlines a process for discipline.

• Every single EPL employee must treat every library patron with dignity and respect, regardless of the patron’s race, gender, or socio-economic status. EPL hosts a dizzying array of programs and presentations. Everyone who attends EPL’s programs should feel welcome and should feel free to voice their opinions. No patron should be subjected to suspension, police involvement or to the specter of arrest for trespass for voicing their opinions at EPL events, especially if that opinion comes from a unique and thought-provoking perspective.

The Board and its Director do recognize that there is a paucity of degreed librarians of color at EPL. This problem is not restricted to EPL; the entire public library field is grappling with it. The latest available statistics from the ALA show that only 5% of all credentialed librarians are African American; only 3% are Hispanic. Indeed, the Library of Congress, founded in 1789, appointed its first African American director just last year. EPL is working diligently to address this diversity issue.

During the five years Karen has been at EPL’s helm, by any subjective or objective criterion, EPL has experienced a renaissance. We have updated our strategic plan and have adopted the American Library Association’s statement on Equity of Access. All three of our branches are humming with activity. EPL’s community outreach efforts are bearing fruit. Our early child literacy initiatives, including ABC Boosters, have yielded objective gains. We have dramatically expanded our free distribution of WiFi hotspots. We have been told that military veterans think that EPL is the most welcoming public library on the North Shore. We now have a full-time social worker at EPL who has helped patrons in need of mental health or social services. More than 2,000 people attended our second annual Storytelling Festival. Because of our partnership with the Center for Economic Progress, hundreds of income eligible Evanstonians have received an average refund of $1,400.00. EPL is currently renovating the Main branch and planning the funding and construction of a state of the art library at Robert Crown.

The Board reaffirms its confidence in our Director. We encourage all EPL patrons to attend our monthly meetings, review our prior board packets, and to read the monthly reports of our Director. All of these resources are online at www.epl.org and contain a treasure trove of information about our strategic plan and about the phenomenal work of all of our employees.

April 26 Statement from Lesley Williams

In light of the EPL board's response supporting my director, and insinuating that my ethics and behavior are open to question, I would like to make a clarifying statement. It's reasonable that those who do not know me would feel uneasy supporting me without knowing what the charges are.

On the advice of my lawyer, I can NOT release the discipline documents, largely because there is no way to do so without revealing the identities of the individuals concerned. Here's what I can say:

None of the charges against me involve criminal behavior, sexual improprieties, or financial improprieties.

There are 4 charges: one involves my handling of a library speaker, one involves my interaction with a patron, and 2 involve communications with co-workers. I have refuted all 4 charges and believe they are completely without merit, but I can't discuss them in more detail without violating the privacy of the other individuals involved.

The real question is why these allegations are being made now, especially since one of the incidents occurred in September, and the others over the past several months. I was not disciplined for any of them at the time; my director asked me to write an explanation for 2 of the incidents, which I did; afterwards she did not ask to meet with me or express any further concern about them. She never even communicated with me about 2 of the charges.

A fair-minded person would have to ask, why this level of intense and vindictive action now? Why this apparent shoring up of charges, based on manipulations of the facts?

Other staff members are not treated this way. I leave it up to your readers to ask why.

Top photo: (From left) Rev. Michael Nabors, Lesley Williams, April 20 (Courtesy Heidi Levin)