Talk:Conrad Sulzer Regional Library

Dempsey's Denial

I worked as the Serials Librarian for the Sulzer Library from 1997-2001, and was there to witness the controversial weeding that took place. Due to Wikipedia rules about banning original research, I won't put this in the main article, but I do feel compelled to set the record straight here in the Talk Page. Here's the story:

Earlier that summer, Leah Steele, the Director of the Sulzer Regional Library, had been told by Commissioner Mary Dempsey's office that she was being reassigned to work in the administrative offices downtown. Steele had two choices: accept this obvious ploy to remove her from the position as Director of the Sulzer Library, or resign from CPL. She needed some time to think about what to do, and took a leave of absence. Meanwhile, the Assistant Director, Neil O'Shea, went on his annual family trip to Ireland to visit his relatives.

The day after O'Shea left for this trip, which he had already purchased unrefundable tickets for, a team of workers arrived at Sulzer to start removing books from the shelves. The team included librarians, clerks and pages. They went through the entire Fiction section in a week or so, removing over 40,000 volumes, and then started in on the Non-Fiction. These books were not being sent to other libraries, they were being tossed into recycling bins out the back loading door, where they were then sent to the paper recycling plant. The Sulzer staff had no input on the deselection process, and indeed, were told to keep out of the way of the downtown workers.

In the middle of this, one morning I was in the basement work room, working on a computer on my serials, and sitting across the room from me was Rebecca Vnuk, a Cataloger Librarian from the Harold Washington Library. She was busy deleting the records of thousands of deselected books that were sent from the shelves upstairs before being tossed into the recycle bins. Suddenly, a team of people arrived in the room - they were obviously outsiders. Several had cameras around their necks, and I assumed they were the press. One of them was Alderman Eugene Schulter (of the 47th Ward), whose precinct included the Sulzer Library. He approached Ms. Vnuk and saw that she had stacks of books she was working on, and right next to her several bins full of obviously discarded books. Alderman Schulter confronted Vnuk, demanding to speak to someone about the weeding project underway at Sulzer. However, Schulter had not introduced himself, and Vnuk did not know who he was. She, being quite flustered, told him 'You're not supposed to be here-this is off-limits.' I was there, sitting just yards away, and I witnessed it. And I was the only person other than Vnuk, and Schulter's cohorts that was there to witness this scene.

At this point Schulter walked over to the back of the computer she was working on, leaned over it, and popped open his wallet, showing his identification that proved he was an Alderman. He then said: "You have no right to order an Alderman on a factfinding mission from a Chicago city building." (or something to that effect). Vnuk was completely flustered at this point, and started to cry. She jumped out of her chair and ran out of the room, presumably to the restroom down the hall. Schulter then turned around and spotted me. He began to approach me, but one of the members of his entourage said: "No, he's on the Sulzer staff." So Alderman Schulter then asked me if I could direct him to someone whom he could speak to about the situation. I got up, excused myself and said I'd go find someone. I went to the stacks where I found Jim Pletz, who was from the administrative offices in the Harold Washington Library downtown, and was the person in charge of the weeding project that day. I then told him what happened, and he left to go downstairs to talk to the Alderman and the people in his group.

This is what happened, and though I have no way to emphatically prove it, I would swear that this is how it went down under oath in a court of law. -- Curt Allred, aka: Saukkomies ^talk 19:50, 2 April 2015 (UTC)

One followup: We who worked at Sulzer were completely afraid to talk to anyone at that time. When Dempsey came out with her big cover-up, denying that this incident took place, I did not come forward because I was so afraid that I'd be a target of some very unpleasant repercussions. Now it is old history, and I've moved away from Chicago and no longer am in fear for what could happen. Still, this incident was not dealt with very well by the administration, and nobody ever had to be called on the carpet over it, and I feel that justice was not served on that day. --Saukkomies ^talk 19:58, 2 April 2015 (UTC)

One of the people who was present during this incident in the workroom was Ben Joravsky, a reporter for the "Chicago Reader" magazine. Here is an article he wrote about this and other incidents involving the disaster that was happening to the Sulzer Regional Library. Stacks Under Attack. --Saukkomies ^talk 20:05, 2 April 2015 (UTC)

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