Yates Resigns As Atlanta-Fulton
Interim Director
Citing conflicts with the library board, Ella Gaines Yates has announced that she will resign as interim director of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System when her contract expires December 31.
Yates, who was director of the system from 1976 to 1981, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution December 23 that since she took the position in May while a national search for a permanent director was conducted, she has been excluded from meetings, forced to present papers she disagrees with, and told not to tell people what was happening. “No librarian worth their salt, no manager worth their salt, will work under these conditions, and I'm not willing to either,” she said. “It's mean, very mean. It's ugly, very ugly.”
She also cited her disagreement with the board's having fired some 16 administrators in response to a county budget shortfall, saying that vacant positions should have been eliminated instead.
Yates's resignation follows that last May of Julie Hunter, who served as director for a tumultuous 15 months after the retirement of Ron Dubberly.
Posted December 28, 1998.
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