Brooklyn Public Library chief Dionne Mack-Harvin has resigned after a scandal with downsizing firm the Five O'Clock Club and the Washington Post. The story goes something like this: Mack-Harvin's $80 million budget for the library system was cut by 5% last August, so she hired the downsizing firm to fire 13 employees. However, the Five O'Clock Club was being profiled by the Washington Post, apparently looking to cover a real-life Up in the Air firm.
Though the Post didn't name names, the article contained enough detail that the reactions of those who were let go were made public to anyone who knew them. The article references "a woman in her early 30s with what appears to be tear stains on her blouse, a receptionist who just surrendered control of the restroom key," and a former employee "eager to get back home to care for a mother who has Alzheimer's," both clearly identifiable to friends and coworkers even without their names.
The Daily News reports that Mack-Harvin tried to cover up the scandal, saying the library was duped by the Washington Post. "I want to assure you that the library did not collaborate with either The Washington Post or the 5 O'Clock Club," she wrote in a memo to library employees after the article was published. However, the Washington Post's Ombudsman wrote that reporter Eli Saslow had contacted library officials about his piece, and "it was clear that library officials knew he would be accompanying Five O’Clock Club staffers to the library, that he would be writing about it and that the library would be named in the story."
On the brighter side, The Daily News also reports that the Library was never charged for the firings, which usually run $2,000 per fired worker. The Five O'Clock club said "We didn't charge anybody...This has been so bad. It's a shame." Mack-Harvin insists that her resignation was a personal decision that had nothing to do with the downsizing scandal, but her career had already had its share of bumps, especially after last summer's scandal over the lockup of "Tintin Au Congo." Once source told the News "The board was not happy with her."
