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Michael Lennon, Westhampton Library president from 2004-2011, told the board Sept. 16 that he was “embarrassed" by what is taking place, meaning policies that have resulted in most of the 35 people in the room demanding the board resign.
Lennon’s company, Pine Barrens Printing, does printing for the library including newsletters, stationery, business cards, invitations to fundraisers, envelopes, etc. It prints the bi-monthly NL at $4,700 each issue or $28,200 yearly. The firm handles printing for many libraries.The audit notes that printing/publicity was budgeted at $27,500 for the year ended June 30, 2015 but cost $39,620 due to “unanticipated price increases from the library’s vendors.” Library director Danielle Waskiewicz said the increase was by the graphic design vendor.
She said the library has moved away from the graphic design vendor and is saving costs by using in-house personnel. She did not give the amount spent with Pine Barrens.
The library was paid $698,000 by nearby districts that don’t have their own libraries but CPA Al Coster told the meeting that such payments cannot be counted on if the districts feel they are not getting their money’s worth.
Whether the districts know about the unrest at the WH library including charges that an employee has been improperly fired and demands that the board resign, is unknown. They are East Moriches, Eastport, East Quogue, Quiogue, Manorville, Remsenberg and Speonk.
Lennon on Board of Library System
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He said he was “embarrassed” by recent developments at the library which included the staff voting 31-3 Aug. 25 to unionize.
Fired employee Sabina Trager told the Southampton Press Sept. 10 that there is “an uncomfortable and unforgiving environment at the library that fueled the push for unionization.” A letter in the Sept. 17 SH Press calls on library president Joan Levan to resign, saying, “We should elect our library board.”
Lennon Withholds Opinions
Lennon, approached when the Sept. 16 meeting ended, was asked if he thought that Levan should resign and the appointed board should be replaced by an elected board.
He said he did not want to give an opinion on such matters at the present time.
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President is Robert Becker representing Babylon/Islip.
SCLS mission statement says it “helps local public libraries to provide the best in traditional and innovative public library service to all the people of Suffolk County.”
It’s motto is, “Helping Your Local Library Serve Your Community Better.”
It says its service program “has been amended many times in response to the changing conditions and needs of its member libraries.”
“The service program of SCLS is the result of a dynamic and responsive process that constantly strives to help its members provide quality library service to their patrons.”
Who Needs Libraries?!
Forbes contributing editor Steve Denning, keynote speaker at the Library Leaders Summit in Washington, D.C., in late April, asked the gathering, “Who needs a library when it is possible, without even getting out of bed, to read almost any book or article that has ever been published?”
He said he did not have the solution for the future role of libraries, only noting they have been bypassed by the internet as have newspapers and magazines, home telephones, flashlights, transistor radios, video cameras, address books, wristwatches, dashboard navigation systems, alarm clocks, maps, directory assistance, pocket calculators and answering machines.
The American Library Assn. is urging libraries to host public meetings on controversial topics.
Libraries in WHB, Southampton, Quogue and Hampton Bays do not have such programs. Critics say that what children, teenagers and adults are learning in such libraries is to withhold comment on controversial topics. They are learning that speaking can be dangerous.
President John F. Kennedy said: “Libraries should be open to all—except the censor. We must know all the facts and hear all the alternatives…let us welcome controversial books and authors.”
Maggie Moran, who is well-connected in New Jersey and New York Democratic politics, has established Moxie Strategies in Asbury Park, NJ.
Husch Blackwell Strategies has added FleishmanHillard alum Michael Slatin as a principal in its public affairs group.
Rory Cooper, a veteran Republican operative and policy specialist, has joined Teneo’s Washington office as senior managing director in its strategy & communications practice.
Brian Fallon, who served as national press secretary for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential run, is signing on next month as Vice President’s Kamala Harris’ campaign communications director.
TikTok is nothing more than a Chinese propaganda tool that poses “a grave threat to America’s national security and, in particular, impressionable children and young adults,” say two Congressmen who want the platform registered as a foreign agent.
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