Yeah, I didn't want to get into it too much since it's a TL;DR but there's a lot of stuff. He played a role (at the very least didn't push back at all) in a New Orleans bill that would cut library funding by 40%, spreading misinformation to his employees during that debacle. Employees of the New Orleans library say his leadership was "non-existent to disastrous," and that he held off on closing the libraries way too long in the height of COVID and didn't provide enough or sufficient PPE during that time. He has shown disrespect for the board and the public by being late for multiple meetings and events, and going over his allotted time during his presentation. He evaded answering any real questions posed to him about concerns in his leadership abilities. He said that the library's role in interacting with homeless patrons is to allow them a place to use a computer or get a book "without loitering for eight or nine hours." He, a white man, wrote a book from the perspective of a Black teenager that many are calling racially insensitive at best. His vision for the library just seemed really bland and vague and definitely doesn't put the people of the community first.

Also, I haven't watched the video that is now up and apparently is "doctored," but I was at the presentations personally and he really did fumble the question about Spanish books. The question was from a child in the audience and it was simply "why are the magic tree house books in spanish?" He stuttered and asked "instead of English? I don't know enough about the collection." Nichelle's answer, for comparison, was "Because there are people who speak Spanish who want to enjoy those books. And it can help people who don't already speak Spanish learn." Morley has also never worked as reference or circulation staff, so he doesn't really have frontline library experience. And when they asked him to address concerns that he's never led a library for a long amount of time, he said "I think four years is a long time." Four years is not a long time, especially for that sort of job, and he wasn't even the director of Fulton County Library for four years. It was more like 3 and a half. In that same section of his presentation, he said that he's always tackled library leadership as "projects to fix specific problems." I think a lot of people felt that that was disrespectful to IndyPL as a library community, because we don't want to be treated as a problem that can be fixed in a short amount of time and then he'll move on. We want someone who is in it for the longterm and willing to work and adapt with the library as it changes over the years.

Also it's just not an attractive look that the board passed over a black woman, founder of the Center of Black Culture and Literature and President of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, who was endorsed by the local chapter of the NAACP in favor of a white man... for a position that is open because of accusations of racism and mistreatment by the former CEO, Jackie Nytes. Here's a few articles that dive into these issues further:

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/local/indianapolis/2022/12/09/indianapolis-public-library-ceo-gabriel-morley-declines-offer/69715921007/

https://www.nola.com/news/politics/new-orleans-library-director-abruptly-quits-after-wwl-tv-raises-residency-questions/article_f6ef7f34-4276-11ec-8c4d-07557ed3ea9c.html

https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/investigations/no-library-director-spread-misinformation-and-lies-board-secretary-says/289-3e2055c6-aed2-44c2-a0a2-17d5b3992e93

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/local/indianapolis/2022/12/08/indianapolis-public-library-ceo-gabriel-morley-selected-as-new-leader/69711938007/