Chapter 31. I am Saddened by Dr. Alan Fern’s Resignation and I Transfer to the Library Environment Resources Office

Dr. Fern had resigned to go to the National Portrait Gallery in the previous spring. I was saddened to see him leave the Library because I considered him to be one of the most effective administrators that I had worked with in the Library of Congress. I had gotten to know him from the time he was Assistant Chief and then Chief of the Prints and Photographs Division and during the time I had served as his Special Assistant when he was Director of the Research Department. Through his last days as Director of Special Collections in the Research Services Department, he faced problems head on and was not afraid to make decisions. I felt his going was a great loss for the Library’s future. His position as it was then constituted was never filled. In fact if one were to check the Annual Reports of the Librarian, the position of Director of Special Collections is listed as vacant in the reports published through 1987, which was the last year that the Librarian published the more complete, bound, hardback type of report that had been published as far back as the eighteen hundreds. The abbreviated report that replaced the older version was not only lacking in the kind of important organizational information that once graced its pages but also was lacking in substantive information about the activities of the Library.

In June of 1981, Mr. James Trew, Director of the Library Environment Resources Office requested that I be detailed to his office to assist him and the architect who had been commissioned to plan the renovation of the older library buildings. On June 15, 1981, Dr. Broderick sent me a memorandum which read as follows:

By this time also the moves of the various divisions and departments into the Madison building had been completed. To celebrate the completion of this major project, Dr. Boorstin held a grand reception in the Atrium of the Madison Building. I was surprised and pleased to receive the following personal letter from Dr. Boorstin:

June 19, 1981
Dear Mr. D’Alessandro:

Our occupancy of the Madison Building marks a new era for the Library. The time has come to recognize and thank those of you who have made and will continue to make this move so successful. Your department director has indicated that you have played a significant role in the moving process. Bill Welsh and I want to thank you on behalf of the Library administration for a job well done.

I invite you to a reception on July 21 at 2:30 P.M. in the Madison Atrium in recognition of your contribution and to celebrate the Library’s accomplishment of this difficult task.

Sincerely,
/s/ Daniel J. Boorstin
The Librarian of Congress

I served as Mr. Trew’s Special Assistant for Planning well beyond the initial thirty days, because Mr. Trew continued asking for extensions of my detail to his office up until March of 1982, when Mr. Trew asked for and got Dr. Broderick’s approval for my transfer to LERO. I agreed because I was again doing the kind of building planning I had done as Business Manager in the Cleveland Public Library.

From March 29, 1982, as Mr. Trew’s Special Assistant I had the pleasure of being involved in every aspect of the planning of the renovation and restoration of the Library’s main building the Thomas Jefferson Building, and the John Adams Building. I also served as the liaison between the Library Environment Resources Office and key Library officials, the Architect of the Capitol and the Associate Architect.

On April 12, 1982, Mr. Trew and I were surprised and shocked to receive a memorandum from Mr. Glen Zimmerman then Associate Librarian for Management, advising us that since I had become a Special Assistant to a Director of an Office (LERO), and since I was no longer a Special Assistant to the Head of a department such as Research Services, I was to be deprived of my official parking space. Mr. Trew who considered this course of action illogical and uncalled for immediately strongly voiced his amazement and objections to Mr. Zimmerman, citing the fact that I had agreed to the lateral transfer for the good of the Library and without an increase in salary and should not be penalized in this way. When Mr. Zimmerman refused to reconsider his course of action, Mr. Trew advised me that he would not blame me if I decided to request to be reinstated in my former position as Special Assistant for Planning Management in the Research Services Department. Mr. Trew also advised me to present my case to Mr. Zimmerman. When this also fell on deaf ears, once again I found myself in the position of having to make another decision that had grave implications for my career. This time I found myself weighing my strong desire to work in a new unit of the Library that not only challenged me but gave me pleasure, against the feeling that I had to make a stand against an adverse administrative action.

This was another one of those occasions when I fell back on something father had taught us as children. In discussing right and wrong, he always told us, “If your mind and your heart tell you that you are being wronged, stand up for your rights no matter what it may cost you!” This was one of those times when my mind and my heart told me that I must stand up for my rights.

I contacted Dr. Broderick about coming back to work for him. He said that he would be glad to have me come back as his Special Assistant. I lost no time in setting the wheels in motion for my return to the Research Services Department. On April 14, 1982, I sent the following memo to Mr. Zimmerman, with copies to the Librarian of Congress Dr. Boorstin, the Deputy Librarian Mr. Welsh, Mr. Curran, the Associate Librarian of Congress, and other top officials:

April 14, 1982

Glen A. Zimmerman

Associate Librarian for Management

Official Status and Revocation of Parking Privileges

This refers to your memorandum of April 12, 1982, advising me that as a result of my recent appointment to the Library Environment Resources Office as a Special Assistant for Library Planning, I am no longer to :be considered an officer of the Library and that my parking permit has been revoked accordingly, effective April 26, 1982. I take strong exception to this unfair and adverse action for the many substantive reasons I cited to you during our meeting of April 8,1982. In my current position I act and serve at least in every official capacity that I did in my former position and my responsibilities in no way have diminished. I did not ask to be transferred to the Library Environment Resources Office, but rather was asked by the Library if I would consider doing so. I believed, and apparently the Library believed that I could make a most valuable and unique contribution to the Library planning process. I agreed to a lateral transfer in the best interests of the Library.  At no time during the process was I advised by any Library official that my appointment would result in a change of my status or parking privileges. In this regard the Library took unfair advantage of me.

In the light of what appears to be an irrevocable decision on your part, I hereby request that I be reinstated in my former position as an official of the Library in Research Services with the attendant parking privilege. I have discussed the matter with Mr. Trew and Dr. Broderick. Mr. Trew has stated that he will agree to my release and Dr. Broderick has informed me that he is willing to return me to my former position as a Research Services Department Staff Officer for which there is a budget number. I further request that my reinstatement take place without fail and without prejudice prior to April 26, 1982.

cc: Messrs. Boorstin, Welsh, Curran, Broderick,
Trew, Garvey Mortimer