INDIANAPOLIS — A national group of Black librarians has canceled a July gathering in Indianapolis after the local library declined to permanently hire a woman who was serving as interim leader.
Indianapolis is an "inhospitable location," the National Conference of African American Librarians said Friday.
"This was actually going to be our first in-person conference since 2020," said Mahasin Ameen, co-chair of the National Conference of African American Librarians.
Ameen said the decision to cancel the July convention came after more than half of its 750 members declined to attend in support of interim CEO Nichelle Hayes.
The Indianapolis Public Library Board decided not to appoint Hayes, who is Black, to lead the library. Some board members said she wasn't qualified despite serving eight months as interim chief executive. The decision sparked protests and prompted the library to announce a new approach to finding its leader.
"The actions of the Indianapolis Public Library Board are a reflection of what happens within our profession, where hardworking, talented and qualified people are used to clean up messes, fix problems and to just be seen enough that a diversity is ticked without any substantive change," the group of Black librarians said.
Hayes is also listed as vice president of the NCAAL on the organization's website.
The NCAAL conference has been postponed to 2024 in New Orleans.
The top job was offered on Dec. 8 to Gabriel Morley, former head of the New Orleans library, but he declined after the backlash.
This, plus protests and what the library's board of trustees called a "significant breach of confidentiality late in the recently concluded search process" prompted the library to announce it was scrapping its old search and starting fresh.
“It’s incredibly frustrating to find ourselves in this situation,” said Judge Joe Salinas, the library's current board chair. “But based on what we’ve learned, we cannot knowingly move forward under these conditions.”
"How can you say there are needs that an interim person may lack but you can't tell us quantitatively what those might actually be?" said Ameen.
Hayes has been serving as interim CEO for nearly a year. The decision to not give Hayes the job has triggered frustration and outrage from Hoosiers.
Protesters made their voices heard in December outside the library.
On Friday, City-County councilors wrote a letter to the board and said the search for a new CEO has "resulted in more instability and turmoil" for the library. And, the board's decision to reopen the search "will have a detrimental impact on the system."
The library board responded in a six-page letter reading, in part, "Ms. Hayes was not a 'runner-up' in the CEO search process."
Also, the board considers library staff surveys, candidate reference feedback and anonymous evaluations when choosing a candidate.
Ameen said the problem is bigger.
"You hit a glass ceiling that shouldn't be your glass ceiling, but because you don't fit what they might want in a candidate or you're bringing a certain aesthetic in your current position you can't break out of that. Our members experience that and they understand the hurt and the trauma that that inflicts on someone," said Ameen. "For me to see all of this happening is just really really heartbreaking, especially having watched something similar unfold with my own career."
Library's new approach
In December, the library announced its new approach to filling the vacancy, which includes naming a community-based CEO and then later hiring another candidate for the permanent position.
The board says the interim CEO will be "a respected local leader drawn from outside the library's ranks." The board added that the interim CEO will not be a candidate for the permanent CEO position.
Salinas hopes that having a community-based interim library head with no designs on the permanent CEO job “will help us craft the fairest search for a new library CEO and a stable, productive environment for all library employees without regard to whether they’ve been vocal about the recent search or remained silent.”
When an interim CEO is appointed, the library's board of trustees will begin a new search process to find someone to fill the position permanently.