More Turbulence in Berkeley; Board Defends Library

-- Library Journal, 5/16/2006

The conflict between Berkeley Public Library (BPL) director Jackie Griffin and local union reps—and some larger portion of the library staff—has ratcheted up a notch. Griffin's lawyer has threatened to sue the library board if the director is fired, alleging wrongful termination, the Berkeley Daily Planet reported. Further, 77 of the 120 library's union employees have signed a no-confidence statement regarding Griffin, according to the Service Employees International Union. The number is hard to confirm, because names are not provided; the union says that's because there's been retaliation against staffers. Meanwhile, deputy director Vivian Pisano has announced her resignation from the library after some three months, saying she'd return to her old job at the San Francisco Public Library. She told LJ that her leaving had "nothing to do with Jackie's situation," but allowed that the job "wasn't what I expected."

Griffin told LJ, "I have a vocal group of people who are not happy with my leadership, are not happy with new technologies." One issue has been the library's adoption of an RFID system. "It does not seem to matter to staff what damage is done to the library in the community. Underneath all this, there are incredibly cool things happening, like partnerships with the community." She added, "I have the confidence of my management team, and the support of an awful lot of line staff." She said the board has asked the city attorney's office to investigate charges of retaliation, "so we can put them to rest." Board chair Susan Kupfer circulated a commentary in response to recent articles critical of the library, saying that BPL was in sound fiscal shape and the decision to adopt RFID "was made carefully and thoughtfully." She added, "I think the library is very well managed and has made enormous progress over the last several years." She said that discussions of Griffin's employment situation were an internal board matter.