Sign up | Log in | Forgot Password

Dear Trustees:

I am forwarding this link to the "How Do You Manage" column
from the December 15 Library Journal. It's a hypothetical
situation that is very similar to an unfortunate incident that
occurred at the Free Library in the fall. I would be
interested in hearing back whether you think Library Journal's
recommendations should have been followed by the FLP
administration.

Here's the link: http://www.libraryjournal.com/index.asp?
layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6289907

Dear Trustees:

Oops.Had a mispelling on my first letter. Happens.
I, however, admit to mistakes.
Do you?
This is your opportunity to correct a major mistake.
As I mentioned, show some "fortitude" and get Vaughan out.
Lack of action is no action.

Dear Trustees:

I told you I'd be writing again regarding the Kevin Vaughan
situation.
Did you doubt that I'd follow up?
I see that in the interim, you've received a few other
blistering letters about the brutal comments made by this
Deputy Director about a Free lIbrary staff member.
Have all of you been out of town?
Or, do you countenance this nasty and cruel behavior?
I doubt you've been out of town, so I can surmise that you are
protecting this individual by your failure to act.
Let's get real..If you are not taking action to remove this man
from his position, you are as culpable and guilty as he in this
dastardly act.
Is that the way we should perceive you "supporters" of good
Library service?
If so, then resign immediately.
You do not deserve to be on any kind of "board" if you turn
your eyes from this problem.
Take some advice. Go public. Have the fortitute to take a
position.
That way, we'll know who you are and where you stand on this
issue.
The staff and public need to know who is on their side.

Dear Trustees:

Why have you not taken action regarding the insulting, degrading
e-mail sent by Kevin Vaughan to Suzin Rigsby, manager of the
Wyoming Branch library? The only "crime" Mrs. Rigsby is "guilty"
of is fighting to restore funding to the Free Library of
Philadelphia, saving the Wyoming from becoming an express branch
in the process. For this, she is labeled "evil" and "wicked to
the core?"

Allowing Mr. Vaughan to remain Associate Director of the Free
Library of Philadelphia is an insult to all library staff. For
you to sit in silence concerning this matter is completely
immoral, in my opinion. Please take the appropriate action and
demand that Kevin Vaughan be relieved of his duties at the Free
Library of Philadelphia.

Dear Trustees:

I'm attaching a letter that appears in the November 15 issue of
Library Journal. I attended this morning's meeting and was
puzzled that no mention was made of Councilmen Frank DiCicco
and Michael Nutter being named Politicians of the Year by the
magazine. Was this just an unfortunate oversight? Or should
the staff of the Free Library feel safe in assuming that you
agree with Associate Director Kevin Vaughan's belief that all
of us who fought to restore funding to the institution that he
and you oversee are "evil" and "wicked to the core"?

I look forward to your response.

Here's the LJ letter:

Feedback
By Staff — November 15, 2005

Philadelphia's branches

As one of the librarians who wrote to nominate Frank DiCicco and
Michael Nutter for LJ's Politicians of the Year ("The
Rescuers," LJ 9/15/05, Cover, p. 30–31), I was thrilled to see
their smiling faces on the cover. The battle to prevent the
dismantling of the neighborhood branches of the Free Library of
Philadelphia was a Herculean task undertaken by the Friends of
the Free Library, the community, and the union that represents
librarians. All of our hard work may not have paid off if
DiCicco, Nutter, and several of their colleagues in the city
council hadn't taken strong stands for adequately funded
libraries as well.

I join LJ and librarians across the country in congratulating
Councilmen DiCicco and Nutter. Their award was well earned. I
also hope LJ readers are now more aware of the important role
unions can play in preserving quality library services for
their communities. Without any support from the management-
centered American Library Association or the Free Library
administration (Director Elliot Shelkrot's quotes in the
article notwithstanding), we managed to save the day.

—Allen Merry, Libn., Free Library of Philadelphia; Exec. Board
Member, Local 2187, AFSCME, Philadelphia

Dear Trustees:

I'm still waiting for you (or someone) to take action against
Kevin Vaughan, the Deputy Director of the Free Library.
His racist and insensitive remarks about a Librarian have not
resulted, to this date, in any action against him.
What are you waiting for? An invitation?
This individual should be fired and/or removed from the Free
Library.
If left in the hands of Shelkrot, nothing will be done...
I expect that you will respond to this and tell me what your
actions against this man's hideous behavior will be. If not, I
will be writing again.

Dear Trustees:

It's very important that you be made aware of this unacceptable
behavior by a library administrator. Please read this message
that was sent to members of 2186 and 2187. It's followed by
inappropriate emails sent by Kevin Vaughan to a union member.

--------------

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We know this is a lot to read. It is urgent that you read this
email. This email refers to some upsetting emails sent to Suzin
Rigsby by Kevin Vaughan. We feel it is critical that you be
kept informed. You fought a very important fight and won. By
now, LS1s have been restored to their positions and Libraries
will be open for the entire day. Saturday service has been
restored. Still, your management has harsh words for the folks
that made it happen.

Wyoming Branch is having its 75th Anniversary on Saturday
10/29. Suzin is proud that her Branch which was scheduled to
move into McBranch status, will be maintaining full time
status. She credits the hard work of all of the librarians and
the significant help of City Council. In particular, Michael
Nutter and Frank DiCicco were chosen "politicians of the Year,"
by Library Journal. Suzin felt it was appropriate that they be
honored at the celebration with a plaque. She sent her thoughts
and request for permission to Elliot after Elliot called her to
thank her for standing up for the Library.

Suzin believed that Elliot would appreciate her suggestion.
After all, the work that they did in City Council brought the
funds necessary to keep all the branches open and restore
Saturday service. She was shocked to open her email last Friday
to find that management had identified her with a "tar baby"
and called her "wicked to the core." We are including the email
trail in chronological order at the end of this email.

We tried to resolve this and have not had any response. We
believe that all of our members are at risk. Clearly, behind
closed doors, Library Management's words about some of us are
hurtful, disparaging, cutting, derogatory, and demeaning. We
are aware of other closed door discussions. This, however, is
the first time a Manager has sent such a disrespectful email to
a member. We are taking it as a threat.

We will be making these emails public. We wanted you to have
them first. Please read them. Feel free to write back with your
thoughts to this email address. We will be reading and
responding to all emails from Librarians and Supervisors.
Again, we thank you for all your hard work. We are proud to
represent you. We will work hard to insure that every member is
free to speak out for their profession without fear of reprisal
from the management. Please read the emails below and let us
know what you think. Thank you

Cathy Scott, President, AFSCME, Local 2187
Mike Walsh, President, AFSCME, Local 2186
Rita Urwitz, Vice President and Business Agent, AFSCME, Local
2186

EMails in Chronological Order:
-----Original Message-----
From: Rigsby, Suzin
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2005 4:50 PM
To: Shelkrot, Elliot
Cc: Vaughan, Kevin; McPeak, Joseph; Rosenberg, Harold;
Hoagland, Toni; adougherty@libraryfriends.info; Horrocks, Sandy
Subject: An idea for WYO's 75th anniversary celebration

Elliot:
My staff and I were talking yesterday about the "Politician of
the Year" recognition given to Councilmen Nutter and DiCicco by
Library Journal, and it is our consensus that we would like to
invite the two of them to participate on the podium at our 75th
anniversary celebration on Saturday, October 29, 2005. It
seems most appropriate that we recognize their support of the
Free Library's budget and staffing as we dedicate our
historical marker from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum
Commission. After all, if they hadn't advocated our cause with
such conviction, my staff and I wouldn't be at WYO to plan our
75th anniversary. It occurs to me that this might be an
opportune moment for either the FLP or the Friends or both to
roundly thank them publicly for their efforts and, perhaps,
present them with a token of our gratitude. There is an
excellent trophy manufacturing business a few blocks from WYO,
one that my staff and I have used for branch events before, and
I would be willing to go over there and order a plaque or
paperweight or something else tasteful to present to them.

I could act on this as early as tomorrow, with your approval.
Please let me know what you think.

Suzin W. Rigsby, LS1, MA, MDiv, MS
Branch Manager
Wyoming Library
231 E. Wyoming Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19120
215-685-9158

________________________________________________________________
____





From: Vaughan, Kevin
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2005 5:33 PM
To: Rigsby, Suzin
Subject: RE: An idea for WYO's 75th anniversary celebration


Evil comes in many forms - this is surely one of them. A tar
baby if ever there was one. She is wicked to the core.
_______________________________________________________

From: Vaughan, Kevin
Sent: Friday, September 30, 2005 12:05 PM
To: Rigsby, Suzin
Subject: Wyoming Anniversary


Yesterday, as I was leaving the Library, I quickly read a note
from you to Elliot regarding the Wyoming Anniversary. In my
quick reading of the E-mail, I over reacted to what I perceived
as an attempt to embarrass Elliot, and to take the attention
away from all of our efforts to move on and restore the Library
to full service. I inadvertently sent my private thoughts about
this event to you instead of to him. I was wrong. I apologize
for that and for my harsh words as well. As one who only too
recently has been called names in more than one public forum, I
should have been much more sensitive to the effect of my
words. It will not be repeated.





Kevin E. Vaughan

Associate Director

Free Library of Philadelphia

1901 Vine Street, Room 118

Philadelphia, PA 19103-1189 vaughank@library.phila.gov

215.686.5305 (Voice)

215.686.5368 (Fax)

Dear Trustees:

I am horrified that neighborhood branches of the Free Library of
Philadelphia are closed on Saturdays! How can the city that is
home to one of the finest free libraries in the world keep
recreation centers open and shutter community libraries?

We talk about keeping college graduates in the city. Well, how
are they supposed to stay if their kids can't discover the
wonders of a library on a Saturday afternoon?

No wonder people keep moving out of Philadelphia. What can be
done to reopen neighborhood branches with a full complement of
weekday and weekend hours?

Dear Trustees:

As a Philadelphia resident and taxpayer, I fully support keeping
all neighborhood library branches open as many hours as
possible, and fully staffed with real librarians.

Keeping the system we have operating and operating well shoudl
eb a much higher priority than an expensive expansion of the
Central Library.

Dear Trustees:

By now, you have heard many arguments against the library
administration's plans to provide express services in 20 of its
55 branch libraries. I truly hope that you are getting the
message that this ridiculous plan won't work and is not fair to
the citizens of Philadelphia.

I am a life-long resident of the Holmesburg section of this
city. I grew up visiting the Holmesburg and Torresdale branches
on a regular basis. My love for libraries was the main reason I
wanted to become a librarian. It is simply not fair to the
neighborhood library users to reduce services in their agencies!

I can't tell you how many times patrons, from young mothers to
our older customers, have told me that they have not, nor ever
will, visit the Central library. While the renovations to
Central are certainly important, they can not and should not
come at the expense of the neighborhood libraries.

Please ask Mr. Shelkrot the hard questions that need to be
answered. Please live up to your duties to ALL of our city's
residents. Stand up for what is right, and put an end to this
nonsense.

Sincerely,
Ann Hornbach

Dear Trustees:

As I look back over the past few months, I find it hard to
believe that you, as a group, have countenanced and accepted
the stupidity and reckless behavior of the Library
Administration. You...and I mean ALL OF YOU, have insulted the
Library staff and the people of our city by your inaction in
the face of cuts in Library hours, staffing, etc.
Are you or are you not supposed to be looking out for the
welfare of the patrons who use the Library?
By "rubberstamping" the manuevers of Shelkrot and his cronies,
you have become part of the problem that pervades this city.
How any individual, offered such an important "honorary"
position, can abandon their rsponsibilities is beyond me.
You are supposed to be "professionals" from various
respectable backgrounds, guiding the Library on a proper course.
Instead, you sit there and let a small group of people dictate
how the system should be run. Did you ask any questions? Did
you protest Shelkrot's ridiculous ideas? Did you even bore
yourselves looking at your own minutes from meetings? I
haven't seen any queries from any of you. Obviously, you've
done nothing.
The staff members and children of Philadelphia who have
suffered under this Library Leadership's "Bunker" mentality
looked to you for help and support. YOU FAILED!!
If you can't be bothered with the nuts and bolts of supporting
your city library, have the courage and good sense to resign.
You are an embarrassment to the city and your tenure on the
Board of Trustees needs to be reevaluated.
Do the right thing!
Do the job you're supposed to do..or leave as quickly as
possible. Let us find people who care!!

Dear Trustees:
Please make all the part time libraries full time libraries
again. All children need equal access to their libraries in
every neighborhood. Senior citizens and families who can not
get to the main library need libraries close to them.
Thank you Bill Wilson

Dear Trustees:

A new annex that will cut the information available to the
citizens of Philadelphia by 1/4th (the amount Central staff has
to weed from the collection to make "room" for the annex?) A
new annex that has no space for book storage, as if the library
will never buy another book? A new annex with the unsafe, and
against all popular wisdom, notion to put the Children's Dept
on the 3rd floor so that in case of fire the children can burn
while the adults get out? A new annex that destroys the
branches?

Sounds to me like an annex that will destroy the library, not
save it.

Please save the library instead. Restore the branches and build
an annex that will meet the real library needs of this city.

Sincerely,
Mike Wisniewski
Dir. Financial Services
Lasalle Univ

Dear Trustees:

I am very disappointed with your willingness to allow a loss of
basic library services in 40% of our neighborhoods while
devoting so much time and effort to funding the Central Library.
While the Central Library certainly needs help, you appear to be
standing passively by while the children of our neighborhoods
lose out.

If you do not consider it your duty to make every effort to
provide equal services to the people of Philadelphia, and if you
are willing to accept the practice of deceiving our elected
officals as an operating norm, I suggest that you are not up to
the standards of ethical behavior that a trustee should should
have.

Please reconsider your course of action and be responsible for
all of the citizens of this city. Please work with our elected
officals and do the right thing.

Sincerely,

T. Kim Robinson

Dear Trustees:

I know that funding for the new wing and restoration of the
Central Library comes from separate funding from the money that
pays salaries and keeps branches operating. Though I know the
selling points for discussing the new Central Library, whenever I
speak with any of our Rare Book Department visitors about the
Safdie building and renovation of the Trumbauer building, they
cannot understand adding a new wing while librarians are being
laid off and branch hours and services are being severely curtailed.

In the past I have worked at branch libraries in West, North and
South Philadelphia. You have heard time and time again how
important full service branches with librarians are for
Philadelphia’s neighborhoods, whether poor, rich or in-between. I
will not repeat the many reasons here. Having worked all over I
simply need to reiterate to you how very important these branches
are in the lives of Philadelphians.

It is not fitting to have a world class Central Library on the
Parkway while the neighborhoods are deprived of library service.

I ask you to work with the City Council, the Mayor and the
Library Director to restore and maintain full service at the ten
express branches and urge you to ensure that full library service
is always maintained at branches and at the Central Library. Once
our branches are secure you will find that support for the new
Central will be there.

Sincerely,

Joël Sartorius
Reference Librarian
Rare Book Department

Dear Trustees:

I am sending you a copy of my testimony from the April 27 City
Council hearing concerning the funding for the extension of the
Central library. After I completed my testimony, Council
President Anna Verna called Free Library Director Elliot
Shelkrot back to the stand and told him that what she had just
heard about his management of the library was "appalling."

As Trustees it is important for you to receive this
information. I hope you will ask serious questions of Mr.
Shelkrot (and Associate Director Kevin Vaughan) at Tuesday's
Board Meeting. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Allen Merry
Exec Board Liaison
Local 2187 AFSCME

---------

Good morning, members of City Council. My name is Allen
Merry. I have been a librarian in the Free Library system for
more than ten years and currently work in the Business,
Science, and Industry Department at the Central library. I am
also a member of the Executive Board of Local 2187 AFSCME.

As a union representative, I sometimes have an adversarial
relationship with the library administration. Despite the
disagreements we sometimes have, however, I am proud to work
for such a prestigious institution, and I support the library’s
mission. Because I feel this way, I made a point to be in the
lobby of the Free Library in December when Mayor John Street
signed the $30 million bond issue for the extension of the
Central library. I agreed with the Mayor when he said “a world-
class city deserves a world-class library.”

A few weeks after that happy day in December, however, the Free
Library Administration delivered layoff notices to 17 employees
and also announced that they would be transforming 20
neighborhood branches into “express” branches with reduced
hours and no librarians. I and many of my colleagues felt
betrayed, misled, and disrespected. Many of you on City
Council also felt this way, which is why you are considering a
bill proposed by Councilman Frank DiCicco that would rescind
the funding for the Central project unless the neighborhood
branches are fully funded and staffed.

Your unhappiness with the Free Library Administration is a
recent phenomenon. Those of us who work at the library,
however, are all too familiar with their shortcomings.

In June of 2003, a 16-year-old female employee observed a man
named Brian McCutchen exposing himself and masturbating in
front of a library computer. A few days later when I asked a
member of the Administration about this incident, he told me
that the police had NOT been contacted, but Mr. McCutchen had
been banned from the Central library and that the ban would
likely extend to the neighborhood branches. We all know that
the systemwide ban never happened. McCutchen became a regular
customer at the Independence Branch and sexually assaulted and
almost killed a young girl in February, 2004. We also know
that Free Library Director Elliot Shelkrot tried to mislead the
public by claiming that McCutchen had been banned from Central
for simply viewing pornography rather than exposing himself and
masturbating.

Prior to--and after—the Independence Branch incident, my union
and many library employees had been clamoring for policies that
would ban people like McCutchen from the system before they
progressed to something more dangerous and violent. The
Administration always said that it couldn’t be done. In the
minutes for the March 2, 2004 meeting of the Security Task
Force formed after the McCutchen attack, Associate Director
Kevin Vaughan told task force members that the City Solicitor’s
office had told him that the library had no authority as an
institution to ban someone from all agencies. He said it
would be a violation of their civil rights. This created an
absurd situation where if you had an overdue book at one
branch, you were not allowed to borrow a book from any other
Philadelphia library. But if you were kicked out of a library
for masturbating, you were free to walk a few blocks and use
another branch. In January of 2005, however, almost a year
after the tragedy at the Independence Branch, the Free Library
finally released an expulsion policy which did in fact allow
systemwide bans in certain cases—something that the
Administration had insisted for years it could not do.

Even with the new expulsion policy, however, we are still
getting excuses rather than action. Just this past Saturday, a
homeless man was caught exposing himself and masturbating in
the Fishtown Branch. The police were not contacted that day,
and an Administrator told me yesterday that she didn’t think
the library had the right to ban this person systemwide.
Another potential Brian McCutchen is lurking in the
neighborhoods of Philadelphia, and the Free Library refuses to
take it seriously.

The Free Library Administration’s handling of security issues
has been deplorable and disingenuous, and that type of behavior
has also been all too apparent during their attempts to
reorganize the Free Library. At a January 18 Labor/Management
meeting, the union asked the Administration if other “world
class” cities were running their libraries without librarians.
Their response was that San Jose “might” be doing it. I
contacted a member of the San Jose Public Library
Administration, and he informed me that in fact they were NOT
doing it.

Later, in a letter sent to the union on February 10, Kevin
Vaughan cited a Library Journal article that described two
branches in King County, Washington that operated without
librarians. I read the article. These two “libraries” are
located in shopping malls and contain no reference material and
very little non-fiction. According to a King County
administrator these branches are NOT meant to take the place of
traditional libraries. Under questioning by my union’s
attorney at the injunction hearing presided over by Judge
Matthew Carrafiello, Mr. Vaughan stated that he wasn’t aware
the two “libraries” were located in malls. Either Mr. Vaughan
was lying in court or maybe he didn’t actually write his own
letter on February 10. Just a little additional information, I
talked to two union officials in King County, and they were
appalled that the Free Library Administration was using these
two branches as justification for turning 20 real libraries
into express branches. The two “mall libraries” in King County
are merely tools for outreach that try to give people a sample
of what their full-service libraries have to offer.

And even though I believe the extension of Central library is a
worthwhile project, the Administration hasn’t been completely
honest with the people of Philadelphia about what the extension
will mean for the city. Many people probably have the
impression that the extension will provide more room for a
growing book collection. This could not be further from the
truth. Most Central subject departments have been instructed
to withdraw 25% of their collections. One of my colleagues
will be speaking more about this. I have also submitted
written testimony from a librarian in the Art Department that
details the gutting of their important collections. To be
fair, some departments haven’t been conducting regular weeding
of their collections—which is necessary. Also, quite a few of
the items that will be discarded are bound and microfilmed
journals that are now available from the library in online
databases. When you remove 25% of the library’s collection,
however, you can’t help but avoid discarding material that
still has value.
When I talk to fellow librarians about the weeding of the
Central collections, many of them are almost driven to tears
while a few think it’s necessary as we move into the future.
Wherever you stand on this issue, however, there WILL be
significantly fewer books at the Central library after the
extension is built. The Administration has definitely not made
any attempt to let City Council or the public know about this,
and that makes me uncomfortable.

The Free Library Administration has made a concerted effort
over the years to hide important information from the public,
staff, and members of City Council. Because of that, very
important decisions are being made for the whole city by a
handful of people at the top of the library--in secret. I
think that’s undemocratic and also leads to bad policies—such
as the ridiculous and destructive “express” branch idea that
the Administration still insists on trying to implement. I
hope everyone in City Council will think long and hard about
the past and current behavior of the library Administration as
they consider the merits of the bill Councilman DiCicco has
proposed. I know I speak for many librarians when I say I
admire the stand he has taken. I also think Councilman Michael
Nutter spoke for many of us when he told Elliot Shelkrot on
April 6 that he owed the people of Philadelphia an apology. I
would only add that Mr. Shelkrot owes his staff an apology as
well for the dishonesty and disdain he has continually flung in
our faces. Thank you for allowing me to speak.