The Great Neck Library Board of Trustees voted to conduct an independent investigation after a letter from an anonymous employee alleged Director Denise Corcoran has fostered a “toxic and fearful work environment” amid other accusations.
The letter, addressed to the Great Neck Library Board of Trustees, says the author wanted to be anonymous due to fear of retaliation.
The current employee said this toxic culture has persisted throughout Corcoran’s tenure, both when she was initially hired in 2018 before leaving in 2019 and again when she returned in 2021. But they said the culture has worsened since she rejoined the library.
Blank Slate Media spoke with two anonymous individuals, one a current library employee and another who no longer working there. Blank Slate Media confirmed that they both have been or are employed by the library.
The anonymous employee still working at the library, with whom Blank Slate Media spoke, wrote the letter. They said it was based on personal experiences and what other employees shared with them.
The letter was sent to the board of trustees, which later voted at a special meeting Thursday night to conduct an independent investigation.
The employee who penned the letter said its purpose is to bring awareness to the board about how much power the director has and what she contends is causing abuse and a toxic work environment.
Efforts to solicit comment from Library Director Corcoran and Assistant Director Kathryn Baumgartner were unavailing. Board President Rory Lancman declined to comment on the letter.
The letter included complaints against Corcoran and the library, including hiring underqualified employees, preferential treatment and larger raises to administrators, secret meetings to keep Corcoran after she resigned last fall, and failure to deliver on a promised diversity audit.
The employee called the culture “demoralizing” for staff as certain employees are favored in hiring and higher-ups receive greater raises.
Both sources said staff shortages have plagued the library, exacerbated by turnover they attributed to the work environment and inability to advance.
The current employee said the staff feels disposable due to a lack of personal connections. The former employee said Corcoran mostly interacts with staff in negative moments, like when members are being reprimanded.
The former employee described the library work environment as a “culture of fear” and “sterile” due to the administration.
“They feel that they are underpaid, understaffed and treated poorly,” the former employee said.
The letter also alleges that after Corcoran received a new contract in the fall, a job posting for assistant director was revised to lower the requirements. This posting was for an internal-only hire.
The letter says this was done to make assistant director Baumgartner eligible to apply, along with other alterations to the hiring process.
Library patron Rebecca Gilliar, who was named in the letter, described Baumgartner’s hiring as one of nurturing executive succession by employing a young assistant director to train her to assume the director role someday. She said this is common with other libraries.
The letter also claims Baumgartner fosters a negative work environment, alleging she has a history of scolding staff.
The anonymous employee alleges Baumgartner’s treatment led to multiple employees leaving the Parkville Branch while she was serving as branch head.
“Rewarding her with the assistant director position has demoralized the staff tremendously,” the letter says. “Denise and Kathryn are two peas in a pod. They are identical in their cold treatment of staff.”
The letter also claims that Baumgartner was involved in interviews that led to the hiring of her friend.
The letter also says library patron Gilliar has been made privy to private information at the library and criticized her correspondence with library employees.
Gilliar said she has been a library patron for 55 years and has “[watched] the patterns and [listened] to the words.”
“The letter writer who intends me harm is in hiding (wearing camouflage and taking aim from a crouched position) and therefore deserves no reply,” Gilliar wrote to Blank Slate Media.
The letter writer said the issue would be resolved if Corcoran was no longer director but said they see this as unlikely.
“For this place to ever change, she’s got to go,” the current employee said. “I think that would be the thing that could really, hopefully, get staff morale back up, but I don’t see it happening.”
The former employee said change could also be achieved if the administration had greater and more positive engagement with staff, but also said they didn’t think it would happen.
Gilliar cautioned against the anonymous letter due to the harm it could cause the library.
“The post is intended to push the board into making a hurried decision to investigate the library director, thereby bringing the library to a standstill,” Gilliar wrote, referencing a social media post about the topic. “Given the current lineup of newcomers and ill-wishers that comprise the current library board majority, I expect they will act to the detriment of the library.”
I was a librarian at GNL for some time. I can’t speak too much to the accusations about Corcoran or Baumgartner. What I will share is a story about Gillar: when I first started, I was instructed by a coworker to hide my weeding cart from Gillar whenever she showed up to the library for fear of retaliation. She was known to go off on librarians who were removing books from the collection stemming from her dustup with the library regarding withdrawals during its renovation. That alone struck me as very odd and off-putting. If you didn’t know, weeding is an essential part of library work: books must be appraised and reappraised and, unfortunately, some need to be withdrawn from the collection to make space for new titles. We only have a set amount of space for items at the library. The fact that one single patron has enough clout at GNL so that an essential task must be put on hold and HIDDEN is, frankly, disgusting. I understand that our job is, in essence, to serve the public, but that means everyone. One single patron should not hold more power than anyone else in the community, but it certainly feels like Gillar does at the library. That’s just my two cents.
My two cents: I don’t really think Gilliar holds more power than anyone else in the community as far as the library goes. I do think that as a longtime library patron and former board member, she may think that her opinion matters more than some other people. But just because she perceives it that way does not make it so. And just because your coworker told you to hide your weeding cart, does not mean she had any power to change what you were culling. Your coworker probably did not want to deal with her and her solution was to hide the cart – but perhaps, if she said anything to you, you could have engaged in a conversation with Gilliar about the need for weeding. Did you ever actually see her “go off” on any other librarians? To say “She was known to…” sounds like hearsay and goossip. To her credit, she does have a lot of institutional knowledge – but perhaps with that knowledge comes a distrust of change. I don’t know. I just don’t think you should malign Gilliar with such a broad brush.
There are discrepancies that should be addressed. Did anyone corroborate the “facts” of the current employee’s anonymous letter? Inaccuracy #1. From this anonymous source, there is no one that comes to mind that left Parkville under Ms. Baumgarten’s tenure. You will find that many of Parkville’s employees have been there for years. Inaccuracy #2. This current employee has a major axe to grind, which they should have stated up front. If said current employee is whom one thinks it is, GNL’s board would do a great service if they investigated this anonymous employee, not the director. Facts 3 to infinity: Employee is bitter. They have been at the library for 20 years without raises or promotions. They are antagonistic to other patrons and staff members. To answer a reference question, she spends 20 minutes why she can’t help said patron, They are constantly talking badly about other departments. They spread venom and toxicity whenever they are on the reference desk. This person has a fat file, spanning years, with complaints from other employees, yet the library does nothing to remove her because she has a lawyer in the family. This anonymous employee is the problem!!! Get rid of her!!! You know were you can find her: in YA!
Passed by the reference desk one day to go to the computer. The person you’re referring to was screaming at someone on the phone. Some guy, presumably her boss, came out from that upstairs mezzanine area and yelled “get off the phone, I’ll talk to the patron.”
Did somebody say toxic environment? Your toxic comment proves the point of the three whistleblowers! How do you do that to another human being in public forum at their workplace? What is wrong with you?
I just saw this online article and comment. If the person you are maliciously describing at the help counter is who we think it is, she is the most helpful and friendly of anyone else there. Your level of toxicity only proves the point of the main article on a “toxic environment.” In attempting to take the focus off the library administration, you have only cemented it. Sorry to say. We will start going to another library
from now on. Good luck to you all!
There seems to be a toxic environment in most work sites these days. Manhasset library is no better and I have observed rudeness among the staff there. Denise Corcoran at Great Neck library is a figurehead who is not committed to anything other than harassing her employees. I have personally made requests to Ms. Corcoran who responds with either a non-answer or double talk.