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We've hung out with a lot of crankypants people in our time, but if we ever have the misfortune to meet 69-year-old Constantine "Connie" Xinos of Oak Brook, we think he might take first prize.
Oak Brook, home of shopping malls, gated communities, and the suburbs' tallest office tower, didn't have a proper library building until one was built in 2002 (Xinos sued to stop construction and lost). Unfortunately for the library, Oak Brook relies heavily on sales taxes for revenue, and as local shopping has been down the town had to make cuts. A big one was eliminating 5 positions from the library staff, including the head librarian and the children's librarian. Residents spoke out against the layoffs, including 11-year-old Sydney Sabbagha who told the village board at a recent meeting that, "[the library] will never be the same without the people you fired."
Then it was Xinos' turn to talk, and he called Sydney and anyone like her "whiners" and that she should come up with the money to pay library salaries herself. Xinos went on to say that he thinks public libraries are "little, personal, private wants" that "[indulges] people in their hobbies." He might have gone on rambling about Sydney frittering her life away playing nursemaid to a lot of garlic-eaters, but we're not sure.
When the Daily Herald spoke to Xinos about the incident and informed him that his harsh words left Sydney in tears, Xinos grinned and said, "I wanted that kid to lose sleep that night." Xinos -- who apparently uses language that would make Blago blush -- has helped to get people elected to the village board that share his views about the library, and when told of a recent library event where patrons brought their dogs, he said, "[blank] that [blank]." Xinos previously managed to keep subsidized senior housing out of Oak Brook, saying, "I don't want to live next to poor people. I don't want poor people in my town."
It's become bad enough that the library staff has turned to -- get this -- the Teamsters Joint Council 25 for help, and they're currently in the process of trying to become certified. Not surprisingly, Xinos had unkind words regarding the Teamsters, saying, "Nobody here likes those kinds of people."
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What a dick.
I thought men like this only existed in nightmares.
The article refers to him as a "criminal attorney." uh huh
Oh Connie, you just made such a mistake.
See, librarians aren't just book shelvers and table wipers, they're some of the most wired-up people out there. They've been using listservs and mailing lists since just after Al Gore created the internet. This story is already out there and gathering attention. Y'know what happens when lots and lots of educated people turn their attention on you and your town? Got a business Connie? Like protestors Connie? Like the idea of sliding into your last feeble years being hectored by librarians and library lovers from all over the globe? It's like Andy Dufresne making you his bitch.
Bad move Connie. Apologize, be nice, go count your money and leave little kids along your old spider.
Please, please let this be real. I work in Oakbrook Terrace and would love to see a dark army of librarians invade one fine autumn day.
Seriously, I work in education and librarians are among the most interconnected and organized people I've ever known. When libraries are in need, have budget issues or face scumbags like Connie here, they organize (yes, quietly) and fight back, HARD.
If the ALA wades into this you have one of the largest and most well-funded intellectual freedom organizations in the country coming down on Connie and his shitheel friends like the wrath of God. I've seen those people take down library boards, union-busters and malcontents like Connie with style and aplumb.
All of it legal, ethical and really really well-organized.
I would LOVE for the ALA to get their hands on this. ~_^
not the same jess nevins that annotates all the alan moore work?! i love your stuff, man.
Someone from Oakbrook being elitist and shitty? Well, color me SHOCKED! Shocked, I say!
Fucking asshole. My wife is a young adult librarian, and you wouldn't believe (though maybe you would) the reactions from people when she tells them she has a Masters degree in Library Science, as though it's the most ridiculous thing in the world.
I am a resident of the community Mr. Xinos is President of the Board and Managing Agent. Mr. Xinos has now done to an 11 year old what he has done to the residents of this community for years. He rules by fear and intimidation and that's the reason he's still Dictator of Briarwood.
You'd think that a person with an advanced degree would recognize the value of a community library.
I am not surprised, however, that anti-intellectualism existed in that area. I also think they made a grave error in depending so heavily on commercial sales tax as opposed to the more stable property tax option. Of course, there is no property tax in Oak Brook. This, in a way, proves Mr. Xinos point. If the residents of Oak Brook want a library, they should pay for a library. Instead, they rely on shoppers (the majority of which probably are not Oak Brook residents) to fund their library for them. That's an odd (in some ways immoral) system among local libraries.
And I have a Master's Degree in Library Science (MLS). If one more person suggests that it is silly for librarians to have advanced degrees and high salaries, I will slap them. It takes intelligent, creative, skilled managers to run a library. The MLS should be viewed as a niche version of the MBA.
You're dead on about the MLS degree. A good number of the library directors I've worked with (in the suburbs and branch managers in CPL) go on to get non-profit MBAs as well. In the schools I've been its not uncommon for the librarians to have more education than a fair number of the teachers.
The funding scheme in Oak Brook for many things, not just the library, relies too much on shopping. That's just bad financial planning and very likely something the library itself had very little say in.
The pennies invested libraries have an astounding return on investment. Not just in educating young people, but in offering programming to residents of all ages, increasing property values, decreasing youth crime and offering the community an institution solely devoted to the betterment of all. I guess that's "socialism" these days.
One point I disagree with you on, a Juris Doctor is hardly an "advanced" degree. Many lawyers are criminally stupid people.
For the record: the "jess nevins" who posts here (and, I think, other Chicago-based websites) is not the Jess Nevins who annotates Alan Moore's work, writes encyclopedias, and is a librarian in California. That Jess Nevins is me. I haven't lived in Chicago since '97.
Hahaha, that is awesome.