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Longtime Berkeley Activist Looks To Take on Library Controversies By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday March 22, 2005

Facing growing anger from residents and librarians over plans to lay off workers and implement tracking devices on materials, the Berkeley Public Library Board of Trustees has selected a veteran of local political battles to join its ranks. 

If approved by the City Council Tuesday, Ying Lee, 73, a former councilmember and legislative aide to Ron Dellums and Barbara Lee, will join the library board. 

“I know the library is in a vulnerable situation and I thought this might be the last chance I get to do something useful,” Lee said. She would join the five-member board in place of Jorge Garcia, whose second four-year term expired last week. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington said that he hoped that Lee, as the only progressive activist on the board, could influence her colleagues. 

Lee said she is opposed to the board’s decision last year to install radio frequency identification devices (RFIDs) on the library’s 500,000 volume collection. RFIDs are expected to make checkout more efficient, but opponents fear that they could be used by government authorities to track patrons. 

“I made it clear to them in my interview that I didn’t believe in tracking library checkouts,” Lee said. “There is no reason for Berkeley to be on the cutting edge of technology in library systems.” 

Board President Laura Anderson said the board was planning to schedule a community meeting on RFID and proposed layoffs before the next board meeting April 12, but she added that she didn’t foresee the board reversing course on RFID after already approving a $500,000 loan to pay for the technology. 

“There’s no way RFID is not coming to the library,” she said. 

Lee said she didn’t know enough to comment on Library Director Jackie Griffin’s budget balancing plan to reorganize library operations and lay off workers. The library faces a $850,000 shortfall next year. 

Griffin’s proposal has met fierce resistance from employees, who at the past board meeting, attended by Lee, blasted Griffin for not including them in the reorganization plan. 

“I was saddened by the depth of unhappiness of staff who spoke at the meeting,” Lee said. 

Jane Scantlebury, a reference librarian, hoped Lee’s appointment would bode well for employees. “I know she’ll listen to us,” she said. 

Anderson said Lee’s experience with tough community issues separated her from a field of seven candidates. 

“We all felt like she was of the community and had a lot of experience working with the community,” Anderson said. “That’s something we’re finding all of us need some skill at.” 

Lee said she owed a debt to public libraries. Upon her arrival in the United States as a 13-year-old immigrant from China, Lee spent most of her first summer in the San Francisco Public Library learning English. She came to Berkeley as a college student in 1951 and stayed to teach in social science in Berkeley schools for 19 years. While still a teacher, Lee was elected to the City Council on the progressive slate, serving from 1973 through 1977. 

In 1980 she left teaching to take a job with Congressman Ron Dellums, and in 1993 she followed Dellums to Washington D.C., where she also served his successor Barbara Lee, before returning to Berkeley in 2000. 

Back in Berkeley, Lee volunteered at the library and directed a local health care agency while continuing her work as a peace activist. Then in 2002, she left public life to help care for her newborn grandson. 

Lee said she was content with retirement, but that friends urged her to apply for the library board. 

“I know it’s a difficult situation, but I’m looking forward to it,” she said. “If it’s not challenging why would I want to be on the board. There are so many other things one can do with one’s time.”