I had always thought of the Oak Park Public Library as a motherhood-and-apple pie sort of place, governed by lovers of community, books, and learning. Sadly, I am no longer comfortable with its governance. Consider:
Per a March 2024 Wednesday Journal editorial: “… the search resulting in [executive director] Dixon’s hiring was pitted with missteps and restarts …”
The board bungled the abrupt firing of the highly-regarded executive director it hired — Joslyn Bowling Dixon — without due process. And now the board is moving to hire a new executive director with only weeks left in its term, although four seats — a board majority — are up for election. How can any new hire reflect the board’s vision when that board and that vision aren’t yet known?
Clearly the library board needs new, competent leaders. Fortunately, there are three such candidates. Both Megan Butman and Bruce Brigell hold master’s degrees in library science/studies. Butman brings 30 years’ experience as a law librarian. Brigell was a public librarian for over 40 years. Daniel Suber has 45 years’ experience as a lawyer. Had these three seasoned professionals been on the library board, I’m confident the missteps noted above never would have happened.
I urge you to vote for Butman, Brigell, and Suber, and not for the two incumbents in the race: Matthew Fruth and Maya Ganguly. These incumbents support the last-minute hiring of a new executive director and they abruptly voted to fire Dixon, thereby losing my confidence.
Judith Alexander
Oak Park
