Firing of James Duvall, M. A. to the Board of Trustees

Presentation to Board of Trustees

Boone County Public Library
In Executive Session
Concerning the Firing of James Duvall, M. A.
Local History Research Specialist
17 September 2009

Members of the Board of Trustees,

I have been invited here this evening to tell you about a work-related dispute I had with my supervisor, Bridget Striker, the Local History Librarian.

For the last two years I have been working on a special project for the library called the Annals of Boone County. I originated this project based on historical research I had been doing on my own concerning Boone County history. As I began researching the history of the county it became obvious to me that there was a basic lack of original documentation accessible to the average person. Except for vague statements in various second-hand books and articles, it was impossible to answer some of the most basic questions about our earliest history.

The Annals of Boone County was written and submitted as a proposal to Lucinda Brown in March 2007. The aim of the project was to publish ...

[At this point I was interrupted by the President of the Board, Alice Ryle, and told that the Board was not there to hear about the Annals of Boone County, but to hear what I had to say about the "improvement plan" the library had in place. I stopped and pointed out that I had not been invited to speak on any particular topic, and that everything I would say was important in the Dispute Resolution process. I said that what I had to say was not very long, that I had read it to my wife and it took eight minutes; if I could not continue with my statement I had nothing to say. There was communication between Ms. Ryle and Cindy Brown, the former director, and I was allowed to proceed. Note inserted 20 Sep 2009.]

The aim of the project was to publish the basic documents of county history; and much of the collection and transcription of these documents is done for the years between 1799, when the county was established, and 1830. This includes the Court Orders, many deeds, wills and inventories; copies of early letters, state laws relating to Boone County, maps and pictures, as well as other material such as tax records.

I announced aat the end of January that I had reached 1830 and would begin getting ready to edit and publish the material within the next couple of months. The history department, I was told at that time, was acquiring a fusion server that would hold much of the material, but it wasn't ready yet.

[I also remarked that I belived it had cost the history department $23,000 dollars, which was assented to by Ms. Brown.]

After some period of time I was also told that the department was looking into publishing the material in a wiki format, like Wikipedia. I was not convinced at the time that it would work, and it was not until June that I came to the conclusion that it would work, if the basic structure I had been developing over the last two years could be left in place.

It was this structure, that was quite simple, that Bridget objected to. She has implied in the letter she wrote 1st September that there was a loud ugly argument, which it was not. We were at her desk, there were plenty of people about, and it may have gone as long as 5 or 6 minutes. We each spoke with some warmth, but there was no escalation such as she speaks of. We parted with her saying I would supply content for the project and she would edit it. And at this point she had taken over my project, without authorization from the director.

[At this point I inquired of Cindy Brown if she had authorized Bridget to do this, and she indicated that she had not. Note added 20 Sep 2009.]

Bridget and I had no further communication on this subject until the surprise meeting 3 Sept, when she presented me with this letter. She is now calling that incident a "coaching session" because that is a required step in implementing an improvement plan.

The week following this agreement I sent her over 150 documents, large and small, as editorial content for her project, which she has since renamed.

[At this point I made some remarks about the Chronicles of Boone County, which was derived from mine, and is currently online, and some of the flaws and inaccuracies in that project, but this was vigorously objected to by Cindy Brown, and Mrs. Ryle indicated her displeasure, so I desisted and continued reading.]

I requested Cindy Brown to resolved this dispute. Bridget and Sherri Slavey said this was "going over my supervisor's head" and that this was cause for charging me with unsatisfactory performance and not working as a team member. At no time was any specific instance of performance or lack of co-operation stated or documented. Bridget failed to give me my annual review at the end of July, which would have been her best opporunity to discuss and document any alleged problem with my work or performance. I have copies of all my correspondence with her and anyone else related to the project, but I cannot find anything she asked me to do that was not done.

At the meeting with Sherri and Bridget 3rd September I pointed out that I had been working on my project on my own for two years. I had answered directly to Cindy Brown for the first year of the project; as she became busier she put me in Bridget's department as an administrative convenience. Bridget signed my time card, approved my vacation requests, and did the basic paperwork. She was officially my supervisor, but I was allowed complete freedom with regard to my project, and it remained that way until 31 August, when Cindy Brown left.

[At this point Ms. Brown interrupted saying that Bridget was my full supervisor. Her statement in this regard does not change the de facto situation, which can be fully documented. Note inserted 20 Nov 2009.]

When Bridget said I did not meet her expectations I pointed out I had no list of expectations, as I had been working on my own. Over the past weekend she wrote a list, and assigned me to work on her project: The Chronicles of Boone County. She budgeted my time, setting up a series of hoops through which I should jump, discuss my team-work at weekly meetings, etc. This was, in my opinion, an attempt to derail the Dispute Resolution process I had begun, and was designed to make me fail. The timing of this was crucial to the success of this attempt by Bridget and Sherri to force me into an awkward position, but it also left the new director vulnerable, and not in a position to know the whole story.

I do not have time to present my case in ten minutes. I have tried to present you with enough information to see I deserve a Hearing. I am requesting a resolution of this dispute in accordance with the employee handbook and public policy. I hope to be reinstated and begin publishing the Annals of Boone County.

Thank you.

James Duvall, M. A.
Local History Research Specialist
Boone County Public Library
Typed from the handwritten MS in my Administrative Journal for 2009 on 20 Sep 2009. JD.

Note: This was followed by a written statement by Ms. Southard, which emphasized the events from 3 Sept to the tenth when she fired me after being director for three days. Mrs. Goetting made several remarks indicating her disapproval of everything I had said, raising concerns of whether I could possible get an impartial hearing from this board. Then the executive session was closed. My father, James R. Duvall, returned to the room, after being excluded against my wishes, and requested to make a statement. He said that he was a native of Boonee County, that he had a graduate degree in history from the same institution as myself, that he was the vice-president of the Boone County Historical, and had volunteered in the history department of the Boone County Public Library for three years. He said I had two advanced degrees in historical studies, and knew a lot about the subject. He pointed out that the Local History Librarian was not from here, had no degree in history at all, and did not know much about Boone County. He talked about how this situation had come about, and called for an investigation by the Board. Mrs. Ryle thanked him for his volunteer work, and for making a statement, ending by saying: "Thank you, Rev. Duvall."