Library News

Library Big Nearly Blew Stack. 20G Asia Junket Nixed, Called 'Imprudent'

BY MELISSA GRACE and HUGH SON DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Wednesday, March 8th 2006, 7:15AM

BELEAGUERED Brooklyn public library Executive Director Ginnie Cooper scheduled a lavish trip to a conference in Hong Kong and Singapore - before library trustees shot it down as an "imprudent" waste of taxpayer money, the Daily News has learned.

Cooper failed to ask library trustees permission before signing up for the week-long junket with three top staffers at a cost of $20,000 - prompting an angry letter from former board President Lucille Thomas.

"The expenditure of public funds for a fact-finding trip about state-of-the-art library operations . . . that are more than likely out of our financial reach is imprudent," Thomas wrote in the letter obtained by The News. The February trip "far exceeds the threshold requiring Board approval" because of staff hours and money involved, Thomas wrote.

Airfare, hotel stays and registration fees were to be paid for with public money, and the conference schedule included being wined and dined by Asian dignitaries.

Besides rejecting the trip, the board demanded that from now on, Cooper must get permission for all travel costing more than $1,000.

"Unfortunately, at the last minute, they pulled out," said Martin Gomez, president of the Urban Libraries Council, which organized the conference. "It was a fabulous trip."

Some board members criticized Cooper's judgment after a routine audit last year revealed she had taken six weeks of vacation time beyond what her $200,000-per-year contract allowed. She had to return $27,000.

"There's a pattern here of Ginnie seeing how much she can get away with," a senior library official said on condition of anonymity. "To me, that's not very professional."

After The News revealed Cooper's excessive vacation, library trustees demanded an independent audit. The report, from accounting company Eisner LLP, will be completed next month.

Library spokesman Jason Carey confirmed the investigation.

Defending Cooper's trip plan, he said: "If you're in a customer-focused organization, you always have to look at the market. That was what that trip was about."

hson@nydailynews.com

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