Brooklyn PL Director Mack-Harvin Resigns After Three Years

As I begin this adventure that is a career in library sciences I keep my ear to the airwaves for items of interest. Through one of the listserves that I joined I received an article regarding Dionne Mack-Harvin who will resign from her position at the Brooklyn Public Library in June of 2010. She has only held the position for three years but has been basically forced out because of a decision she made in the summer of 2009.

Due to our nations depressed economy Mack-Harvin made the financial decision to terminate 13 employees at the main branch of the library. The board of Trustees at the library was in full accord with that decision. However, it was the manner in which the terminations were carried out that caused embarrassment not only for the library but for the employees who lost their jobs. Mack-Harvin hired a company called "The Five O'Clock Club" to handle the terminations. This is a professional service created to separate individuals from their jobs in a gentle manner and provide up to a years worth of job counseling for these employees at a cost of around $2000 per person. It just so happens that a Washington Post reporter was covering the "Club" and published an article which pulled back the veil of anonymity which the situation deserved. Thereby embarrassing the library and those who were terminated. The firestorm of controversy which surrounded these terminations was made worse when the library director lied to the public refusing to admit that she had given permission for the coverage thinking that it would be good for public relations. Once the public got hold of the story the backlash was near universal. The Board of Trustees moved to oust Mack-Harvin and she eventually was forced to resign.

There is a lesson to be learned here. First cultivate your own human resources department so you don't have to hire outsiders at insanely inflated prices to do what you are already paying someone to do. Second, work hard to maintain the confidentiality employer employee relationship at all times. While libraries are depositories of information not everything is for public consumption.Third, always tell the truth. Admit when you made a mistake. Finally, never trust the media. They serve their own ends. The coverage that one receives is never what one hopes it would be.

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6721715.html?nid=2671&rid=#reg_visitor_id&source=title