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Steele replaced as Sulzer director Assistant director O'Shea passed over for job

By David Harrell News Editor

After two months of mystery, the Sulzer Regional Library will be receiving a new director. The library was visited the afternoon of Tuesday, Oct. 2, by Commissioner Mary Dempsey, Assistant Commissioner Charlotte Kim and First Deputy Commissioner Karen Danczak Lyons, who informed staffers of the new appointment to replace Leah Steele, who was ousted in August. As the three top administrators met with Sulzer staffers, a Chicago police officer guarded the library’s front entrance. The top position will go to Greta Bever, now head of the Portage-Cragin branch on the West Side. After Dempsey announced the news, she told the staff that if they didn’t like it they could all transfer somewhere else, according to a CPL source who spoke under conditions of anonymity. Some librarians at Sulzer have reportedly been polishing up their resumes and “looking to bail,” another source said. During the meeting, Dempsey also reportedly “berated” the staff for not spending the money allotted to it for new books—a charge which staff members deny, sources said.

As Inside went to press, Neal O’Shea remained as assistant director at the regional library. Steele’s removal, and the institution of a controversial weeding program by the CPL hierarchy, occurred while O’Shea was vacationing in Ireland. A CPL source relayed to Inside information that seems to confirm a longstanding rumor: that it was not just Steele who was slated for removal, but her very position. Under the current salary schedule, Assistant Director O’Shea is a Librarian V, as was Steele. However, a library source said that when Bever takes over at Sulzer, she will remain a lower-salaried Librarian IV—creating the awkward situation of a relatively inexperienced IV from a neighborhood branch supervising a more experienced V already familiar with Sulzer and its patrons.

O’Shea looks like the next to be squeezed out because of his close association with and loyalty to Steele, the source said. Steele had been trying to forestall resigning, taking vacation, sick days and medical leave from the CPL. But she recently found that her medical insurance coverage had been dropped. “I went to get a prescription for her a few days ago and they said her insurance had been dropped as of Aug. 31,” said her husband, Richard Steele. Although her husband said the news was like “getting punched in the stomach,” Steele was nothing if not prepared for this latest move. In August, after her showdown with Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey over an attempt to transfer her into an undefined position at CPL headquarters, Leah learned that Dempsey had already chosen Bever as her replacement. In August, Steele showed Inside a copy of a notice, posted in July in staff areas at the Portage-Cragin branch, which solicited candidates for the soon-to-be-vacated position of branch manager. The notice was posted in staff areas. According to Steele, however, it was taken down soon thereafter. Steele learned that the branch manager position was to be vacated because Bever would be leaving it to take over Steele’s old position at Sulzer. When called by Inside in August, Bever denied any knowledge of such a plan.