What's going on at Sulzer?

The alderman said it appeared that "they’re taking out books that we worked very hard to get here in the first place." Schulter said it’s a matter of "Are we properly handling the taxpayers’ dollars?"

At one point, as Friends of Sulzer members and reporters converged on the basement sorting room to demand answers, Pletz informed them that non-employees were really not supposed to be down in the basement.

The outspoken Victoria Khamis replied that, as a board member of the Friends of Sulzer and a library volunteer, she had been there many times before.

"Are you insured?" Pletz replied. "I’m merely asking, for my own protection, ma’am. You are technically in a closed-service staff area."

"Don’t worry about it," Schulter interjected.

Pletz hurriedly added to Khamis--and partly to Schulter: "But that’s no big deal, because the alderman is here with you, you have carte blanche, sir. As you know."

The tension in the basement room was palpable, and at many points the discussion devolved into a shouting match with the beleaguered Pletz, who was trying to give his version of what was happening.

Later in the meeting, Pletz fielded a telephone call from Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey. Dempsey also spoke with Schulter for several minutes—reportedly, she was at last conceding to hold a meeting where community members could voice their opinions to her. Asked whether she wanted to speak to an Inside reporter, she again refused.

Just normal weeding? Pletz, Director of Adult Services and ADA Compliance, normally works downtown, but showed up in the basement of Sulzer to sift through and rearrange books. When asked why tens of thousands of books were being shipped out of the library, Pletz said: "There’s a weeding process which is standard in most libraries" for damaged and "redundant" books. He said some books also had to be removed because there "was no shelf space" for new books, and some books were "unnecessarily duplication" or multiple copies of a title. He said the books being shipped out will be replaced by brand new ones coming in.

Yet some didn’t buy the explanation. Steele, in a telephone interview, said she’d never experienced high-ranking CPL officials coming in and personally weeding books before. "Librarians know how to weed," Steele said.

When asked about the longstanding rumor that the regional-library idea was under attack, Pletz responded by reminding the group that the regional library idea had been conceived decades ago, and the original plan of 15 regionals had not even fully come to fruitition. He then spoke enthusiastically of the new neighborhood branch libraries being built, and mentioned that some of the thousands of books being removed from Sulzer would not be discarded but would be held for use in still-to-be-built branch libraries.

When asked whether this meant that the current administration regarded the regional libraries as obsolete and due for downgrading or dismantling, Pletz replied that he knew of no such plan.

Pletz was also queried whether the policy of removing books to ease Sulzer’s overcrowding could be interpreted as a denial of community members' repeated calls for expansion of the library. Pletz responded that removing books was "only one solution" to the overcrowding problem but not necessarily the only one.

Where are the books going? On Monday, city workers began arriving at Sulzer and loading box after box with books. "They’ve torn out the front pages where it says ‘Chicago Public Library,’" Khamis said.

Apparently, the books were destined for Second-hand Prose, a small resale shop in Harold Washington Library.

"They certainly wont be able to put them in Second-hand Prose," Williams said. "It’s just too small." He said that, according to his knowledge, the CPL uses a private contractor to haul away discarded books as well as donated books "that they don’t want, or don’t want to take the trouble to add to the collection" and sell them to used bookstores, recycle the paper, or just dump the books into a landfill.

More on Steele: Despite having received a letter from Dempsey demanding that she stand by her original decision to retire—and do so by Wednesday, Aug. 22—Steele had made no decision as Inside went to press Tuesday afternoon.

She continued to take sick leave and said she was under a doctor’s care for acute stress, migraines and chest pains. She also said she was spending some of her time taking care of her mother, who also is ill.

"I don’t want to sound neurotic," Steele said. "But it has taken a toll ... The stress has made me ill." Also, she said, there was the confusion of "not understanding why."

"Obviously, we did get ‘Best City Library’ in ‘97, and we still get accolades. I don’t understand it. I just want to do my job."

On the Steele issue, 25-year veteran of the library system David Williams said, "It’s been common knowledge in the library that Dempsey wanted to get rid of Leah, but she had too much community support."

"Leah Steele had a great rapport with the community," said a former CPL staffer who now works at another city agency, yet still is fearful of identifying herself. She credited Steele’s leadership with securing many donations for the library. The library almost never had to buy paperback books for the popular reading room.

The real plan? Williams believes that the ballyhooed branch-building program is "mainly real-estate driven"—more a tool for public relations and Daley’s urban renewal plan than for advancing literacy in Chicago. The vision, Williams said, is to put "a half-empty branch in every ward."

"They put these libraries with cookie-cutter collections and staff them with a skeleton staff and put an Internet terminal in, then brag about how this is the ‘Chicago Model’ being emulated across the country and how Daley’s administration is in the forefront of library development. I’m not saying it’s all bad. But the collections and services are very inadequate."

Williams said that instead of building poorly staffed and stocked branch libraries, the CPL ought to consolidate its resources and build more regional libraries.

"What’s really ironic is they’re starving the library of resources overall, but on the other hand turning around and using the library as a big PR mechanism," he said, citing the recent high-profile "To Kill a Mockingbird" reading campaign promoted by Daley.

Williams said that due to the "dismal" state of school libraries in Chicago, the CPL serves as the "surrogate library of the public schools."

Some of the older branches are fairly well stocked, he said, but "these newer branches and the old remaining storefront branches" are weak. Williams cited the newer Jeffrey Manor and Brainerd branches, comparing them to Dunkin Donut and Blockbuster franchise stores.

Get rid of the regionals? Several CPL staffers, who wished to remain unidentified, remarked that Dempsey has shown little respect for institutions or people who preceded her. Many are concerned that Dempsey’s "strategic plan" for the Chicago libraries does not include the regional libraries, which were built before her.

One source warned: "They’re going to get rid of Sulzer and try to get rid of Woodson. I’ve seen nothing in writing—I’ve seen no pronouncements—but I’ve heard people in my department who are higher up than me say that basically [Dempsey] wants to get rid of the regionals."

Khamis also said she believed an attack on both regionals was in the works. "A word of warning to the south region," Khamis said. "It’s happening to you too."

Anybody home? As this issue went to press, Inside learned that Dempsey has agreed to meet with Ald. Schulter on the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 22. Other than this, the CPL hierarchy has remained unavailable to respond to the many concerns or quell the rumors.

Assistant Commissioner for Neighborhood Services Charlotte Kim-- who has been closely involved with the Steele matter and was present at the Aug. 7 meeting at Sulzer where Steele's impending retirement was announced--has also declined to comment, saying only Dempsey could answer questions about the matter. However, Kim praised Dempsey for her work promoting Mayor Daley’s "To Kill a Mockingbird" reading campaign.

The CPL press secretary was of little help, and other communications staffers seemed uncommunicative on the Sulzer issue and helpless in getting hold of their supervisor, Dempsey.

The commissioner, for her part, has not found the time to answer an e-mail message and more than two weeks of regular telephone calls from Inside staffers—except for one unexpected call.

When called at her home one evening and asked whether she had a few minutes to talk, Dempsey’s only reply before abruptly hanging up was four words:

"No, sir, I don’t."