ANNIE K. WILKINSON

candidate for 2025 OAK PARK LIBRARY board

1. What motivates you to seek this office? What skills do you bring to the office? What sets you apart from other candidates? What does success look like for you after four years in the position?

I am motivated to serve as a Library Trustee because I believe deeply in the power of libraries to foster democracy, life-long learning, equity, and local community. As a passionate library patron, parent, neighbor, and engaged community member, I want to ensure that we sustain the precious resource that is our Oak Park Public Library for all, for always, even during the most challenging of times. This doesn’t just happen—we make it happen. As an educator and researcher with experience in higher education and non-profit management, I bring skills in critical analysis, strategic planning, and community engagement, a background in supporting public institutions, and a commitment to defending intellectual freedom and promoting diversity and inclusion. 

Measurable success after these next challenging four years would mean that we have: sustained all of our library’s varied programming through a tumultuous period; increased the diversity and support of our staff; rekindled strong partnerships with our local schools and community organizations; upheld our commitment to intellectual freedom and equitable access despite increasing pressures on these shared values; and cultivated an engaged community that broadly supports our library as an essential resource and community hub.

2. What do you see as the three biggest challenges or opportunities facing the Library  and what role do you see the Board playing to address them over the next four years?

Increased threats to democratic norms, public institutions & funding, and economic stability and vitality emanating especially from the federal government pose significant legal, social, and economic threats to our library and to the wellbeing of our community that sustains our library. While we cannot anticipate exactly how or when all of these challenges will manifest, the Board can help mitigate and navigate them by taking a pro-active approach to robust planning (including scenario and contingency planning), cultivating strong relationships with both library governance & policy networks and with other local governmental bodies, prioritizing strong community engagement and insisting on our values of championing diversity in staffing, collections, and programming and intellectual freedom, and by exploring ideas for funding diversification. Anticipating the onboarding of a new Executive Director—which presents an exciting opportunity for our library—will also require a dedication from Board trustees to supporting library staff and leadership through the upcoming transition, a process I would look forward to supporting.

3. What is your decision making process? What are steps the Board can take to ensure transparency, clear communication, and community engagement to ensure the Board is hearing from the full range of the Library’s constituents?.

My view is that good decisions are based on good information, and that an effective decision is a well-communicated one. When making decisions, I begin by gathering information from diverse sources and analyzing it from multiple perspectives to inform my consideration of the potential outcomes, unintended consequences, the realities of existing limitations, and our guiding mission and values. I believe in making evidence- and equity-based decisions, considerations that outweigh making popular ones if they are not the right ones, as well as communicating those decisions effectively and accessibly. Every decision both past and potential is worth reflecting on and learning from, and the practice of evaluating and reflecting on both our decisions and processes is just as important to me as any other part of the decision-making process. 

4. Please share your thoughts about the Library’s current financial picture.What’s your understanding of the Board role in the budgeting process and the allocation of resources? Do you have organizational finance experience?

Do you have organizational finance experience?

Like many public institutions, our library faces challenges in balancing increasing costs with limited resources. Our library currently has a balanced budget, and as a Board member, I would prioritize maintaining a deep and comprehensive understanding of our financial situation and ensuring that we continue to manage and allocate our resources responsibly, while also anticipating needs and allowing for the necessary flexibility to ensure a safe, sustainable, and financially healthy institution that can continue to serve our community effectively.

The Board's role in budgeting and resource allocation is to help align financial priorities with the library's strategic plan, to analyze, approve, advocate for, and oversee the library’s annual budget, and ensure sound fiscal management and responsibility, including in the oversight of major expenditures and capital projects, like the new HVAC system that the library will require this year. My experience in non-profit management and organizational finance prepares me for these Board functions. I've managed budgets, conducted financial analyses, and led fundraising efforts, skills that help me contribute effectively to the Board's financial oversight responsibilities. 

5. What would you say to voters who are worried about Oak Park’s overall tax burden?

I understand concerns about Oak Park's tax burden. As a taxpayer and parent in our community, I'm very aware of the financial pressures many of our residents face. I believe our library is a crucial and responsibly managed investment in our community that is well worth the ~4.5% of our annual tax revenue that makes the services and resources they provide to everyone in our community. That we locally fund our own library also affords us a welcome degree of local autonomy that enables our library to continue to reflect our community and our values. Plus, the higher the utilization of the library’s resources and collections—whether free access to books, media, or online resources—the more money residents actually save, so use your library. See you there!

6. How do you define equity? Have recent discussions in the larger community and or at the national level informed or changed your thinking? 

Equity is the aspiration to ensure fair access, opportunity, and outcomes for all members of our community, recognizing that different individuals and groups may need different levels of support to achieve those outcomes, for example by addressing systemic or historical barriers. A focus on equity is a core value of our library and our community, a commitment I share. Libraries play critical roles in promoting both democracy and equity by providing free access to high-quality information, resources, places for assembly, and services to all community members, regardless of their background or circumstances.

This is why authoritarians everywhere often target libraries. Many of us in our community share a deep love for our library and describe it as a welcoming and inclusive space. But the history of libraries in the United States reveals that libraries were not always this way, while contemporary attacks on public libraries (which I closely track and analyze as part of my professional research work) are part of a broader assault on the inclusive democratic values, public institutions, and local power that our public libraries represent. I am dedicated to ensuring that our library continues striving to be a library for all, for always.

7. What do you see as the role of the Library in responding to the ever-changing ways in which people find and consume information? 

Having taught undergraduate courses on the problem of misinformation, I know that the library's role in our rapidly evolving information landscape is more crucial than ever. As information consumption habits change, our library must adapt to ensure continued relevance while also upholding our core mission of providing free and equitable access to information. Our library does an exemplary job of this. Our library bridges the digital divide by providing free internet access, lending devices, and offering tech support to ensure all community members can access online resources. Our library helps patrons find reliable, authoritative sources amidst the overwhelming amount of information available online. Our library provides access to information in multiple formats (e.g., print, digital, audio) to accommodate different learning styles and preferences—all of which us diverse learners in my household take full advantage of! The Creative Studio is another exemplary program that demonstrates our library’s commitment to bringing cutting edge tools and technology to our community. 

8. In recent years, the Library has replaced security guards with social workers, increased salaries for its lower-waged workers, and eliminated late fees for borrowers. Please share your thoughts about these initiatives. Are there ways in which you would anticipate expanding or rolling back this work?  

I strongly support these smart, research-supported initiatives, which align with the library's mission of ensuring equitable access and fostering a welcoming environment for all community members. Everyone cares about safety at the library. This is a baseline expectation for accessibility for everyone and is always a priority. Replacing security guards with social workers is an innovative approach that can suit the needs of all library patrons, addressing both safety as well as ensuring a welcoming environment, while also facilitating referrals that can connect patrons with resources that they need and that the library is unable to provide.

Increasing salaries for lower-waged workers is also crucial for attracting and retaining talented staff, ensuring fair compensation, and demonstrating the library's commitment to equity. And eliminating late fees removes a significant barrier to library access, especially for lower-income patrons, a common-sense policy backed by research showing that this often results in more returned materials and increased library usage. As a trustee, I would support continuing evidence-based and equity-minded approaches like these.

9. What approach should the Library take towards intergovernmental cooperation initiatives such as the Collaboration for Early Childhood? Are there other specific initiatives that you would like to implement or expand upon? 

The library should definitely actively pursue intergovernmental cooperation initiatives like the Collaboration for Early Childhood, as well as partnerships with local schools, the Community Recreation Center, our public health department, and others. These partnerships leverage resources, reduce duplication of efforts, and create a more comprehensive approach to addressing community needs, and as a Board Trustee, I would strongly support the Board’s active participation in our village’s Intergovernmental Committee.

10. What approach should the Library take towards intermunicipal cooperation with neighboring communities? Are there specific initiatives that you would like to implement or expand upon?

Intermunicipal cooperation can significantly enhance library services, expand resources, and efficiently pool resources, so I would strongly support our library in actively pursuing and strengthening its partnerships with neighboring communities' libraries and other institutions. My family has benefited from our library’s interlibrary loan program and reciprocal borrowing agreements, for example, to gain access to materials from kids’ books in Spanish to academic texts that we could not otherwise access. To break down barriers between our close neighbors, we could also consider joint programming with libraries in neighboring communities, like cross-community book clubs or reading challenges.  

11. How do you see services and supports for homeless patrons fitting within the mission of the Library?

As a public institution, our library serves everyone in our community, whether you are experiencing homelessness or not. While the library is not set up to provide the full range of services that our unhoused patrons need, there are indeed many ways libraries often serve as a lifeline for these members of our community, including access to information, offering one of few welcoming environments during daytime hours, educational opportunities, a place to engage with others and reduce social isolation, and sometimes basic needs like water or shelter from extreme weather. By embracing this role, we uphold our commitment to serving all community members while coordinating with other local services. It's crucial to balance these efforts with maintaining a welcoming environment for all patrons, and I trust our library staff’s expertise in addressing those concerns through compassionate, solution-focused approaches.

12. How should the Library handle the question around the removal of books, subscriptions, and materials from the shelves if community members deem the content to be inappropriate, too controversial or objectionable? 

I support the ALA's Library Bill of Rights and Freedom to Read Statement, period. I trust our library staff’s expertise to develop and manage our collections. Our library serves our entire community, not just individuals or groups, and our role is to provide access to a wide range of information and ideas, allowing patrons to make their own informed choices. As Trustee, I would defend our library’s continuing commitment to upholding the core democratic values of intellectual freedom and resisting censorship. 

13. Knowing that the Board cannot share certain information related to employment matters, what measures do you believe are needed to restore confidence in the Board and the executive level management in the wake of the controversy around the executive director last year? 

I believe restoring that confidence is achievable and that it will take: following a transparent and professional recruitment process; proactively seeking feedback from library leadership and staff on needs going forward; providing strong and ongoing support to our incoming executive director; and putting in place an effective, transparent, and supportive evaluation process for the executive director. Fortunately, several of these processes are already underway. Koy Consulting has been retained to recruit our next executive director, and the Board is providing public communications on the progress of that search. The Board has also formally sought input from staff, an initial (not final) step in facilitating staff feedback. 

If elected, I would be keen to support the final two elements of this plan—providing the necessary supports to our incoming executive director and conducting a review of all relevant policies, particularly those related to hiring, evaluation, and oversight of executive leadership and community-board engagement. Everyone deserves both support and accountability in this process, including staff, leadership, board, and our community. Though the board cannot discuss specifics of personnel matters, I believe these measures can demonstrate the Board’s commitment to learning from past challenges and fostering a culture of transparency, accountability, and trust.

14. The Library Board’s primary responsibility is oversight of the Executive Director. What criteria do you believe the Board should use to evaluate the performance of the Executive Director?

As Trustee, I would support a review of the evaluation process for the Executive Director. This would ideally include a clear and comprehensive set of criteria of both quantitative and qualitative assessments to identify achievements, challenges, and opportunities with respect to: progress towards the goals of the strategic plan; operational effectiveness and staff management, including employee satisfaction and retention of a diverse staff; adherence to the budget and strong fiscal management; quality of community engagement and relations; and professional development. Any evaluation process should include self-assessment by the Director, input from staff and key stakeholders, and regular check-ins throughout the year, culminating in an annual formal review as well as a review of the evaluation process itself. My view of the evaluation process is that it is not just a formality for accountability but a tool for supporting the success of our Executive Director, in which we are all invested. 

15. Last November, Oak Park voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative that proposed that voters be able to approve ordinances and policies through a direct vote. At this point, the vote on the ballot initiative was advisory or non-binding. The next step is for the Village or any other taxing body in Oak Park (as reported by the Wednesday Journal November 7, 2024) to decide whether or not to place the issue on the ballot as a binding referendum. Please share your views on this initiative. 

This initiative raises important questions about direct democracy and local governance. While I respect the clear voter support for increased direct participation and especially the underlying enthusiasm for democratic processes, I have reservations about implementing a binding referendum system for all ordinances and policies. Most especially, I am concerned that referenda on complex issues do not get subjected to the same rigorous deliberation that other decision-making processes require and that they are more vulnerable to the influence of those with significant resources available to influence them. There are instances of successful implementation of this approach, but as a scholar of authoritarianism, I have seen this go wrong far too many times, resulting in a less rather than more democratic outcome. If we want more democracy in Oak Park, we will vote in ranked choice voting!  

Should this nonetheless come to pass despite such warnings, then I as a library trustee would work to ensure any new referendum system respects the library's mission, professional standards, and commitment to intellectual freedom. I'd also emphasize the importance of informed decision-making and the value of librarians' expertise in managing library operations and collections.

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