Fired library managers speak out

Summer Beck-Griffith was told the mayor wants to take the Lincoln Library in a different direction when she was notified of her firing earlier this month.

But in the wake of her dismissal, by newly elected Mayor Misty Buscher, Beck-Griffith remains perplexed as to just what that “new direction” might be for the capital city’s 167-year-old public library.

Beck-Griffith says she repeatedly sought unsuccessfully to meet with Buscher before being terminated.

City spokeswoman Haley Wilson issued this statement: “After careful thought and consideration, Mayor Misty Buscher dismissed Summer Beck-Griffith as an appointed employee. Mayor Buscher recently appointed Curtis Mann as the library’s acting director. Mann served as the library’s city historian and also managed the Sangamon Valley Collection. Mann is more than qualified to temporarily fulfill this role until Kathryn Harris assumes her role as interim director for the city’s public library.

“Harris has over four decades of institutional knowledge and expertise that will spearhead the future of the library and provide guidance and direction on forthcoming leadership. We are so very grateful to acquire Kathryn Harris in an interim role as we search for a qualified director for our city’s library.”

Beck-Griffith acknowledged that mayors have the right to pick their own department heads. But she noted the library, for at least the last 50 years, has been immune from leadership changes with the election of new mayors.

“My hope is that Springfield works toward moving in a way that’s congruent with a setup that takes the politics out of ruling the library,” she said.

It’s been a tumultuous time for the library.

Last year, Library Director Rochelle Hartman was fired by then-mayor Jim Langfelder after a little over two years on the job. Langfelder replaced her with Beck-Griffith.

Beck-Griffith was fired after Buscher made comments inferring that the director needed to be a librarian to be eligible for some grants. But those comments were disputed by more than 30 library employees who signed a letter to the public saying that Beck-Griffith’s skills suited the role well and that grant money would not be affected by her lack of a degree in library science.

Community relations manager Hillary Rains, who passed the petition, was fired as a result of the letter, which was printed on library letterhead.

Gene Mitchell, a staff representative with the labor union representing most library workers, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, said employees felt coerced into signing the letter because a member of management made the request.

In response, Beck-Griffith said, “The staff has time and time and time again stood up for the future of Lincoln Library and to say anything else really belittles their voice.”

Kathryn Harris, who has worked in local libraries for over 40 years, will assume the role of interim director of the library June 1. In 2015, Harris retired from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library after a career that began at Springfield’s public library in 1971.

Interim department heads can hold a post no longer than three months. Buscher said she will conduct a nationwide search to find a permanent library director.

“Once Kathryn Harris assumes her role as interim director, we will work with her on a comprehensive plan of what the library will look like in the future. We will be relying heavily on her expertise,” Buscher said in a prepared statement to Illinois Times.

Beck-Griffith said she holds Harris in high regard and believes she will be an asset to the library.

“I just want to let people know that I support the staff. The staff is phenomenal, and I’m so proud of the work that they have done,” she added.

But Beck-Griffith added she believes structural reforms are needed at the library. She said the department is largely funded by the city’s telecommunications tax but as the number of landlines in the city has diminished, it has become a less reliable revenue source. She added that property taxes would be a stable source of funding.

Unlike most municipalities, Springfield’s library director doesn’t report to a library board. Instead, the mayor decides who will hold the post. Springfield’s library board functions in an advisory role.

Rains said, “We’d really like to let people know that the idea that (Beck-Griffith’s) credentials could stand in the way of the library’s progress is not true. … Not having a degreed librarian as director has nothing to do with grant qualifications. Many libraries, especially libraries of our size, have directors who worked in things like communications, public administration or nonprofit management.

“I don’t need Summer to catalog a book. She’s never going to think about that. Heck, I can’t catalog a book, and I have a library degree. We need someone in that position to be able to do the things that we can’t do: Communicate with the higher-ups and see the lay of the political land, which, you know, Summer generally is pretty great at.”

Scott Reeder, a staff writer for Illinois Times, can be reached at sreeder@illinoistimes.com.

This article appears in Summerguide 2023.