Adding diversity to the Niles-Maine District Library’s all-white elected board was sought by members of a community activist group as library trustees discussed a tentative timeline for advertising a vacancy on the board.
One month after the resignation of recently-elected library trustee Olivia Hanusiak, the board on Sept. 15 formally declared the vacancy through a unanimous vote and discussed possibly accepting applications in early October.
Hanusiak’s resignation was announced by Library Board President Carolyn Drblik at the start of the board’s Aug. 18 meeting. Hanusiak, who was elected in April and joined the board in May, was not in attendance.
It will be up to the now six-member board to approve a candidate for the seat. When this could occur is not known, though members discussed possibly interviewing applicants in late October.
The Illinois Local Library Act does not call for a board seat to be filled within a specific number of days following the vacancy. Instead, it states, “vacancies shall be filled forthwith.”
During a portion of the Sept. 15 meeting reserved for public comment, Elizabeth Lynch of the Niles Coalition and Dalal Hassane of the coalition’s new Niles Youth Community group each called for the appointment of a trustee who is representative of the community’s ethnic and racial diversity.
“The more this board reflects the diversity of our community, the better it will serve us,” said Lynch, asking how the board will encourage “those of different backgrounds to apply” for the vacancy.
She also asked board members to look outside the people they know.
“Another promotion or appointment from within your group of friends, from your specific house of worship, from those who worked on your campaign would be childish and unethical,” she said.
Hassane, 17, from Niles, read from the Niles Youth Community’s mission statement, which states that members “demand racial representation by filling the vacant library trustee position with a person of color who is against eliminating the services and resources that some board members have targeted.”
“As one of the only people of color in this room, and one of the only young people in this room, I ask that you listen to these demands from the Niles Youth Community,” Hassane said.
The group, according to its mission statement, “seeks to promote anti-racism, the diversity of the Niles community and the voices of the youth.” It is an offshoot of the Niles Coalition, a local social justice group.
Lynch told Pioneer Press/Chicago Tribune that the Niles Coalition will be promoting the library board vacancy “as widely as possible and especially with historically marginalized groups.”
“I think there is going to be a lot of interest across the (library) district and I hope to see lots of new, diverse leaders applying,” she said.
The Niles-Maine District Library serves approximately 59,000 people within the village of Niles and unincorporated Maine Township, according to the library’s website.
Recently released 2020 U.S. Census data shows that of the 30,912 residents living in the village of Niles, 65.3% are white, 19.5% are Asian and 11.2% are Hispanic.
Residents of unincorporated Maine Township are counted under the municipalities of Des Plaines and Glenview.
The 2019 U.S. Census American Community Survey found that within Maine Township as a whole, 44% of residents spoke a language other than English at home.
During library board meetings in recent months, some members of the public have objected to comments Trustee Joe Makula made during a spring candidate forum when he suggested the library focus on teaching users English “instead of stocking up on books” in other languages.
“If we got people to assimilate and learn English better, I think we would do more good in that area, instead of increasing our inventory of foreign-language books,” he said during the forum.
Some speakers pointed out that many residents speak more than one language and check out materials in both English and the other languages they understand.
With the current six-member Niles-Maine District Library Board deeply divided, approving a candidate that both sides support could be a challenge.
During the Sept. 15 meeting, Trustees Becky Keane-Adams, Dianne Olson and Patti Rozanski continued to clash with Board President Drblik on a number of matters, including sets of revised minutes for meetings held on June 1 and July 21, both of which failed to be adopted due to a 3-3 vote.
Keane-Adams, Olson and Rozanski voted against the adoption of the minutes, which included new additions requested by Drblik.
