[Publib] librarian fired for reporting patron to police ?

Thu Mar 27 16:04:16 EDT 2008

This is the same story in Visalia, CA. I posted the first report of it a 
couple of weeks ago.

Fred Beisser
Trustee
www.elbertcountylibrary.org
(Colorado)

Jennie J. Stoltz wrote:

>I agree with Diedre, you have to read the more comprehensive article.  It did make me start to wonder if there was more to the story.  For example, she was fired just one week before her six month probationary period was over.  And, it almost sounds like her supervisor wasn't even in the same building?  Does anyone else read it that way?
>
>Also, in the USA Today article it mentions in the body of the article that she was a library aide though it calls her a librarian in the title of that same article and refers to her as a librarian in the USA Today article.  There's a difference between a library aide and a librarian and although anyone has the right to report a crime to the police maybe it was just a matter having a supervisor come over and confirm what she had seen, though as I mentioned before, it sounds like her supervisor might not have been nearby.
>
>Is this the same story about a librarian/library aide being fired for reporting a person viewing child pornography to the police that was posted to PUBLIB a week or two ago or is this a second firing?
>
>
>Jennie J. Stoltz
>Director
>Pewaukee Public Library
>Pewaukee, Wisconsin
>(262) 691-5670, ext. 20
>(262) 691-5673 fax
>
>GoodSearch for the Pewaukee Public Library.
>
>Raise money for the Library just by searching the Internet or shopping online with GoodSearch - www.goodsearch.com - powered by Yahoo!
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Diedre Conkling <diedrec at charter.net>
>Date: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 7:23 pm
>Subject: Re: [Publib] librarian fired for reporting patron to police ?
>To: PUBLIB <publib at webjunction.org>
>
>
>  
>
>>Thanks for sending this piece.  I hope people will read the whole 
>>article instead of just this excerpt.  Reading the whole article does 
>>show that the situation is not as cut and dried as it may appear at first.
>> 
>> As was said before, we don't know if there were other personnel 
>>issues and the article points out that the staff member had not 
>>finished the 6 month probationary period.  It is often a time when 
>>individuals are fired and they can be fired easily during this time period.
>> 
>> There is some question about whether or not the patron was viewing 
>>child pornography and that is going to be a part of the court case.
>> 
>> Yes, we do report illegal activities, including child pornography, to 
>>the police but, as many of us suspected, this case is not so clear and 
>>the reason for the staff person losing their job is not so clear.  We 
>>can all put our own spin on it and there is a good chance each of us 
>>would be wrong  because we do not have the facts and we are not a court.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Diedre Conkling
>>      
>>   Lincoln County Library District
>>   P.O. Box 2027, Newport, OR  97365
>>   Phone & Fax:  541-265-3066
>>   http://lcld.library-blogs.net/
>>   Work:  diedre at beachbooks.org
>>   Home:  diedrec at charter.net
>>    
>> 
>> ---- Molly Wms <mwm at suscom-maine.net> wrote: 
>> 
>> =============
>> At USA Today's On Deadline: 
>> http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/03/calif-librarian.html?csp=34
>> 
>> 
>>     _Calif. librarian fired after reporting patron to police_
>> 
>>     Brenda Biesterfeld says she lost her job as a library aide because
>>     she ignored her supervisor and turned in a patron who was looking 
>>at
>>     photos of nude boys on a computer at the library in Lindsay, Calif.
>> 
>>     The Visalia Times-Delta reports
>>     <
>>     that police eventually charged Donny Lynn Chrisler, 39, with
>>     possessing child pornography. After investigators seized the Tulare
>>     County Library' <s computer,
>>     Biesterfeld says she told her supervisor about her role in the case.
>> 
>>     "She kind of threatened me," Biesterfeld tells the paper. "She said
>>     I worked for the county, and when the county tells you to do
>>     something, you do what the county tells you. She said I had no
>>     loyalty to the county."
>> 
>>     A few days later, Biesterfeld lost her job.
>> 
>>     The county, however, says her termination had nothing to do with 
>>the
>>     complaint she filed with police.
>> 
>>     "She can say whatever she chooses, and we can't respond," Tulare
>>     County Counsel Kathleen Bales-Lange tells the Los Angeles Times
>>     <,
>>     citing privacy rules.
>> 
>>     Community sentiment appears to be running favor of the 46-year-old.
>> 
>>     "I think it's rotten she lost her job, no doubt," Lindsay Mayor Ed
>>     Murray tells the local paper. "What company has a policy that says
>>     don't report this crime, we'll handle it tomorrow, and if [the
>>     offender] comes back again, we'll take his library card away?"
>> 
>>     Chrisler is being held at the local jail. His attorney denies the
>>     charges.
>> 
>> 
>> ----
>> 
>> ~ Molly Wms.
>> 
>> -- 
>> Molly Williams
>> Beyond Rivalry: http://beyondrivalry.blogspirit.com/
>> Worth Reading Blog: http://librarybooklists.org/wordpress/
>> Library Booklists: http://librarybooklists.org 
>> Maine Writers Index: http://www.waterborolibrary.org/MWI/MWI_home.php
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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