Library Board addresses policies

DAYTON-The March 20 Columbia County Rural Library District Board of Trustees meeting attracted another sizable group of 25 attendees and another 12 online. Director Todd Vandenbark gave his monthly reports before the meeting opened to several public comments beginning with comment from Trustee Chuck Beleny who suggested the Board consider updating the collection policy about content to prohibit obscene materials.

Beleny referred to the previous month's Board meeting when the Board was asked by a patron Marcene Hendrickson to appeal the decision of the Director Vandenbark to retain one of the questionable books written for minors after she submitted the required Request for Reconsideration Form and he reviewed it. The Board was limited by policy to determine if the Director's decision to retain the book could be appealed based on only two factors. One was if the book was in line with the collection policy (in which it only states that the collection be diverse). The other factor is if the Director was arbitrary or capricious when making his decision.

Beleny then referenced laws written to protect children from obscenity including the Child Internet Protection Act from 2003. He questioned how libraries can allow obscenity for minors in print when it is not allowed to view on the internet. Chairman Jay Ball pointed out that the laws are for internet. The Board has been working through policies over the months a few at a time. Beleny requested they update the current collection policy which has not been updated since 2008 to not allow books with graphic illustrations or explicit details that could be considered obscene. He said most library policies are dated 2008 or 2013 and he suggested they hold a work session for intensive review. Ball responded to say that the Board is made up of volunteers and that "It would take months. It would take a long time and take long, long nights and you really got to do them piece by piece." He went on to concede, "We can review them. Get the ones that are old, get the ones that are needing some work and do them, but they are what they are."

Several public comments were then heard. Dayton resident Anna Berg spoke up from the perspective of having worked in a library. She supports the library and is happy to have the resource in town. She said that library collections are being scrutinized around the nation by concerned parents and community members. She read there are currently 79 bills across the U.S. about library content. Though she believes in intellectual freedom, she believes the Dayton library's outdated collection development policy should be moved to top priority for review in a work session with the community. She questioned the patronage numbers, demographic and genre of interest and suggested those all should be tracked to help refine and target the collection.

Peggy James questioned how the Board works and why Ball was not more supportive of the idea of policy review and did not put it before the rest of board. He interrupted her before her time was up and moved on to the next comment to which Peggy's husband Chuck later questioned Ball about why he cut her off. Ball then apologized.

The next comment came from Jessica Ruffcorn who briefly stated to those present that she had with her a formal petition requesting the dissolution of the library district be placed on the ballot. She said the petition is "clearly our only recourse anymore."

Marcene Hendrickson attempted to ask how books are chosen when Ball interjected to remind her that she can only comment and not ask questions. She restated her idea to say that she and others have requested books that have not been ordered. Vandenbark asked that she come to see him about it. She then asked how others would know the answer, but Ball again reminded her that they are only taking comments, not questions and they would address it more formally later.

The last comment came from Amy Rosenberg who was online and said that she had seen that policy revisions were scheduled. She added that as a taxpayer, she receives library services far beyond what she pays, and she commended the Board and Vandenbark for the good work they are doing.

The Board then ended the public portion of the meeting to go into executive session for the annual performance evaluation for Vandenbark. The session lasted about an hour. Once finished, Chairman Ball offered a statement about the petition to dissolve the Library District. "If people want change, the better way to do it is through the Board – be part of the solution. I believe the petition is to kill the library which is short sighted. If that happens, the building has to go back to the City."