The controversial dismissal of final 12 months of the director of the Public Library of Oak Park Joslyn Bowling Dixon is reverbing within the Council of Libraries this 12 months. There are eight competing candidates for 4 seats within the Library Council within the April 1st elections. Three of the candidates, Bruce Brigell, Megan Butman and Daniel Suber, are largely operating as a result of they’re indignant for Dixon’s decision and imagine that he has illustrated deeper issues with the Council.
“It appeared like a reckless resolution with no truthful trial in our opinion and left the neighborhood ultimately,” Borgell mentioned in a phone interview.
Dixon was fired on March 16, 2024, after complaints about how he managed a Palestinian cultural occasion within the library and among the many complaints by some members of the employees of the present library and ex on the reorganization of the employees who eradicated a place of restoration practices.
Brigell, 73 years outdated, and Butman, 53, are skilled librarians whereas Suber, 73 years outdated, is a not too long ago retired lawyer. They have shaped a listing and are conducting a joint marketing campaign. Brorell and Butman met after each of them made public feedback in a gathering of the Library Council after Dixon was fired. Brorell, who’s now retired, has labored for 25 years as a chief of reference on the Skokie public library whereas Butman is a authorized librarian for the Law Firm of Ogletree, Deakins. Suber, who was additionally shocked by Dixon’s hearth, was introduced to Brieri by the previous worker of Oak Park Village Sandra Sokol. So Brorell, Butman and Suber met and determined to use for the library as a staff.
“We simply had some espresso collectively and we determined, Gee all of us really feel in the identical manner for issues,” mentioned Suber.
There is one other slate to 3 very totally different folks within the race, composed of Annie Wilkinson, Colin Bird-Martinez and Mika Yamamoto. They met after deposited to run, however all come from a politically left perspective and have been energetic within the Oak Park group.
“Nobody put our slate collectively, we gathered as a result of we prefer it,” mentioned Wilkinson.
Somehow positioned within the center there are two historic operators operating for the re -election, a member of the Council of the longtime library and present Prime Minister Matt Frutth and Maya Ganguly.
There are clear variations between the 2 lists. Brorell and Butman declare that it might be helpful to have an expert librarian or two on the library board.
“It is a voice that, I imagine, would make a simpler recommendation,” Butman mentioned.
Frutth, 46, who was on the board of administrators for 20 years, refused to say rather a lot about Dixon’s dismissal. A press release that the Library Council issued after taking pictures Dixon mentioned that the choice to cease Dixon, a black girl, lower than 17 months after beginning her job, was not based mostly on an accident.
Ganguly, a forty five -year -old lawyer who was within the Council for 2 years, was a little bit extra out there in a phone interview.
“I’ll say that, sadly, there have been a variety of issues that had been raised to the Council and never all of them have been in the midst of the general public assembly,” mentioned Ganguly. “There have been additionally complaints for the chums of the Oak Park public library and the way they felt they have been coping with.
Bird-Martinez, Wilkinson and Yamamoto supported the choice to fireside Dixon.
“I believe it ought to have been fired,” mentioned Yamamoto, an English instructor at Oak Park and River Forest High School. “There is loads of public documentation of employees complaints. He was not consistent with the imaginative and prescient of the library to be a library for everybody.”
Bird-Martinez, 39 years outdated, grew up in Oak Park and works as a supervisor for worldwide engines, a heavy truck producer. In 2019, when he lived in Chicago, Bird-Martinez labored with out success for councilor within the thirty first division, ending third in a race of three folks with 26.47% of the votes. Bird-Martinez additionally labored with the group of standard foyer that the previous president of the president of Oak Park Village Cate Readling was the chief of.
Wilkinson, 40, achieved a doctorate in anthropology on the University of California, Irvine. He works as a senior analysis analyst for a small Think Tank referred to as Political Research Associates during which he research transnational anti-gender actions, incorrect disinformation, conspiracy theories and authoritarian actions.
Bird-Martinez, Wilkinson and the slogan of the Yamamoto marketing campaign is “a library for everybody, eternally”. They are anxious in regards to the double -digit variety of shade individuals who have left work within the library within the final 12 months and “the Roll -back and a sort of dismantling of a part of the anti -ralism and the neighborhood’s dedication staff,” mentioned Wilkinson.
All candidates say they need the library to proceed to advertise range, fairness and inclusion. They all mentioned that the brand new government director, who might be employed shortly, ought to resolve, in session with the Library Council, whether or not or not having a director of range, fairness and the place of inclusion.
“How an government director, , does this job will depend upon them,” fruch mentioned.
Brigell mentioned that it appears that evidently the main target of the opposing artexia appears to be primarily on gods.
“I believe all of the candidates admire, know, gods and antiracism and all these forms of issues,” mentioned Brigell. “However, I believe it’s a bit like the one purpose of that different ticket. We assume it is crucial, do not get me mistaken about this, however it’s not the one downside that the library has to face.”
Wilkinson mentioned that his slate worries greater than gods.
“It’s not the one factor we care about,” Wilkinson mentioned. “We additionally fear about defending the library from the ban on books, to make sure that we proceed to have a public establishment resilient within the face of federal financing cuts”.
All candidates declare to be towards the ban on the e book.
Brigell mentioned that you will need to have a diversified assortment of supplies and observed that he didn’t need to see the oldest books to do away with.
“Mark Twain makes use of many phrases that I might not use,” Borgell mentioned in a candidate discussion board on February 5 sponsored by the Oak Park chapter of the League of Women voters. “It characterizes racial range in methods I might not use, however I believe it will be significant to not censor Mark Twain, so preserve the library open to all types of concepts even when we now have to have the e book by Melania Trump.”
Suber advised the candidate discussion board that thinks that the neighborhood ought to play a job in deciding what’s within the library assortment.
“I’m not a fan of censorship in any manner, type or type, nevertheless it appears to me that the neighborhood should have inputs in that course of, in addition to the board of administrators and the employees of the library … which is at present lacking,” mentioned Suber.
Butman is anxious that the Bird-Martinez, Wilkinson and Yamamoto trio need to use the library to advance their political agenda. For her that is the excellence within the race.
“For me this seems to be like individuals who care about libraries for the nice of the library and the individuals who use the library recommendation for his or her political agenda,” mentioned Butman.
Wilkinson’s response to this.
“The elections are intrinsically political,” mentioned Wilkinson. “We have clarified our positions on what our shared imaginative and prescient is for the library and we predict it displays what the Oak Park neighborhood desires.”
Butman mentioned as a librarian who’s anxious when any group tries to make use of a library for political functions.
“Many activated and progressive concepts with which I agree, I disagree with the left or proper utilizing their political agenda to handle a library,” Butman mentioned. “I see it as an issue. I see it as problematic when the precise desires to ban the books; I see it as an issue when the left simply desires to shoot administrators and go to assault folks for all sorts of quite excessive issues.”
Bob Skolnik is a contract journalist for Pioneer Press.
