Oak Brook (IL) Public Library: Loyalty is off the table

Link to September 15 TheDoings-OakBrook.com post, "Oak Brook Library employees, including director, laid off".

Excerpt 1: After employees at the library joined the Teamsters union in August, the news prompted members of the Citizen's Finance Advisory Committee to recommend that the Village Board consider cutting all "nonessential village services."

Excerpt 2: Library Associates Companies, a private company, was hired by the Village Board to find ways to cut the library's budget without affecting services. LAC released a report in August and mentioned the library's director, saying Klinkow-Hartmann's "demonstrated loyalty to her staff" would be one factor that would make changes at the library difficult.

The Village Board had asked the consultants to find ways to cut $300,000.

According to the 2005-06 Illinois Public Library Statistics (latest edition available on web), Oak Brooks income was $1,242,780.

And here's some irony. Library Associates Companies is the 2009 sponsor of the Illinois Library Association's Libraian of the Year Award.

(Thanks to Sue Mannix for the link.)