Library Boss Had Rocky Time in Last Job;
...Jousted with Mayor, Staff and Even Some Patrons
By Alfred Charles, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 29, 1999, p. C10.
When Mary Kaye Hooker was chosen to manage the public libraries in this West Texas town,
she began the job with sizable support. But that good will evaporated during a rocky four-year
tenure in which she was banned from her office by her boss, the mayor; was criticized by
library patrons who took issue with the way she ran the system; and was feared by workers
who said she was a stern taskmaster.
"I'm happy she's in Atlanta and not here, for the sake of our employees," said El Paso City
Councilman Larry Medina, who led a council committee that investigated library workers'
complaints. "Hopefully, she will do a better job there than she did for us."
Of her tumultuous experience in El Paso, Hooker said, "That library system demands so much
of its director. You become well qualified to take on any challenge. It's a wonderful training
ground."
It will be a challenge presiding over the Atlanta-Fulton library system. Hooker, who will earn
$100,000 a year, has been hired for a job that two previous directors abruptly abandoned,
citing conflicts with the 17-member governing board, which has been criticized as being too
involved in the system's day-to-day affairs.
Hooker said she is looking forward to the task of running the largest library system in Georgia,
with 35 branches and an annual budget of nearly $30 million. It is a big step up from El Paso,
which has roughly 700,000 residents but only nine library branches and an annual budget of
nearly $6 million.
"I think the nation will look to us as the leader for what a library of tomorrow is," Hooker said
from her downtown Atlanta office on the main library's sixth floor.
Hooker was among a handful of applicants recommended by Gossage Regan Associates, a
New York-based national recruiting firm paid $34,000 to find a library director. The library
board interviewed seven candidates, narrowing the field to Hooker and another applicant
before making its choice.
Interviews in El Paso with city officials, library supporters and workers indicate an enormous
amount of animosity toward Hooker.
The ill will ran both ways. In a move the El Paso city attorney said was unprecedented,
Hooker, who is white, filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission, alleging that the largely Hispanic city administration discriminated against her
because of her ethnicity.
She contends that Mayor Carlos Ramirez and other top administrators did not intervene on her
behalf in a dispute with a subordinate. The subordinate, Ivonne Jimenez, who was the library
system's highest-ranking Hispanic administrator, has filed her own EEOC complaint and a
lawsuit in state District Court against the city, charging that El Paso officials did nothing to stop
ethnic harassment by Hooker. Both complaints and the lawsuit are pending.
The city is also disputing a claim for worker compensation benefits Hooker filed while on
medical leave after falling down a flight of stairs in March. Hooker contends she was pushed,
but there has been no definitive ruling by investigators.
Hooker testified in a deposition given during the Jimenez court case that while she was on
medical leave, the mayor prohibited her from entering her office.
Mayor Ramirez declined to speak with a reporter about Hooker or the city's library system,
citing the pending complaints and litigation.
Hooker was appointed by Ramirez's predecessor. She blames the current mayor for many of
the system's woes, arguing that the library ranked low on his list of concerns. She said Ramirez
targeted the library system repeatedly for budget cuts, reductions that hamstrung her
decision-making.
Expenditures for many city agencies are in question as Ramirez tries to hold the line on
expenses. El Paso has allocated $5.4 million for its libraries for the 2000 fiscal year, compared
with $6.1 million for 1999.
Before being named head of the El Paso libraries, Hooker was coordinator of the Texas
Trans-Pecos Library System. She reported to El Paso's library director and was charged with
managing activities with libraries in other West Texas towns. When Salazar left for the Dallas
job, Hooker applied for and got his position in 1994.
Performance evaluations show that she got off to a good start. In her first-year review, she
earned a 4 on a 5-point scale. Her personnel department reviewers said she responded to
challenges quickly and encouraged her staff to act independently. But toward the end of her
tenure , reviewers noted conflicts between Hooker and her employees.
Hooker lists her successes in El Paso as the opening of four new branches, enhancement of
automated services, remodeling of the main library and the receipt of several national grants.
But her critics take issue with many of her accomplishments, saying the new branches were
already in the works when she was hired, and they insist she dragged her feet on applying for
$388,760 in grants in 1998. Hooker admits some grants were lost, and she places the figure
at nearly $1 million. But she said they were forfeited because the Ramirez administration did
not sign off on grant applications that required matching funds.
Some of the harshest complaints about Hooker come from El Paso library workers, who said
morale sank under her watch. Nearly 50 workers formed a library chapter of the Association
of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees to represent their interests.
"Something had to be done," said Mary Bowles Grijalra, business manager for AFSCME
Local 59. "We had too many complaints, and when you have that many complaints, something
is happening."
Library patrons also criticized Hooker. She was not welcome at meetings of the El Paso Public
Library Association.
Other support groups also grew frustrated with Hooker's management. They cited her
decisions to change operating hours, a missed opportunity to receive $500,000 in bond money
that would have been available this year to purchase new books and the loss of six librarians in
three weeks who left for other jobs rather than continue working for Hooker.
"It was due to her management that we lost those people," said Carol Ginty, a member of the
Friends of Irving Schwartz Library. "I was not sorry to see Ms. Hooker go."
Hooker said she was surprised by the criticism from the friends group. "I always respected
their approach," she said.
But she prefers not to dwell on her El Paso experience. "I can't talk about the past. I'm for the
future."
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