Friday, May 11, 2007

No Outside Influence in Hiring of Branch Library Managers

Columnist Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune has raised a fracas because CPL Commissioner Mary Demsey wasn't nice enough to him when he suggested a possible hire for Branch Library Manager.

He quotes on his blog the offending email from Demsey:

You suggest that outside individuals should be allowed to influence the city's hiring processes. You are wrong.

...

Your suggestions that outside influences such as community mobilization or aldermanic input should be involved in the particular situation about which you write are absolutely inappropriate.

Zorn of all people should realize how sensitive an issue this is. Opening up hiring decisions of people supposed to run branch libraries to outside pressure groups _is_ inappropriate.

You can imagine what a can of worms this would open up -- here in the city of Chicago.

It's not surprising then that Commissioner Demsey is so adamant in her reply. She's got 50 aldermen and a mayor who'd love to do the same thing (and that's just the elected officials).

UPDATE: Note, this might be the dumbest hiring decision ever made but if that's your 'beef' then argue it as such.

The notion that you're going to have outside pressure groups involved in the hiring of library branch managers is an administrative nightmare.

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