KDNK: The most recent trustee meeting was in Carbondale, June 5th. I had heard that the trustees were going to discuss the Manga books, so talk about that discussion.
Megan Webber: There was a discussion item for the relocation of books. They did talk specifically about the Manga books, the Prison School series that have been in the news recently, and a lot of people came to public comment to talk about it. The board finally said, “All right, you know, we've been hearing about this for three years at this point, and it's time to make a decision."
So they asked staff if they could relocate the books and staff basically came back and said, no, we can't. It's illegal. They talked to their library council. They looked at Colorado State law [SB 24-216 Standards for Decisions Regarding Library Resources], and they also looked at the First Amendment under the Constitution and said, basically, we cannot restrict people's access to free speech based on their age, legally.
So, as you can imagine, there was a group of people in the room that was not happy to hear that. There was a lot of conversation amongst the board members about, “Well, it's really up to the parents to say what their kids can and cannot read.” They discussed a new type of library card that parents could opt in or opt out of – they can choose to sign their kid up for this new card that would say my kid's under 18 or whatever and therefore is not allowed to check out these materials. It stops a kid from checking out a certain book, but it doesn't stop a kid from reading or seeing a certain book.
KDNK: Isn't that sort of the point of, uh, free speech? I mean, you just said it right there, it stops a kid from taking out the book or the materials, but it doesn't stop them from reading it.
MW: Yeah, I mean, it's like Jamie (LaRue, Garfield County Library District Director) and staff said at some point, “This is a public library.” And, you know, the board members are up there saying…like Tony Hershey said multiple times, “I will not violate state law. I will not break the law.”
They cannot legally restrict access to information.
KDNK: So is this the end of that issue?
MW: I very much doubt it.
KDNK: What makes you say that?
MW: Well, at the next meeting in July, Jamie's going to bring back this information and say, hey, we can create this card, this is what it can do. And the board will vote on it. But there's still people in the room. There's still people at the table, the board of trustees, who are saying we haven't covered the whole issue.
KDNK: Well, since the newer members have joined the board, at least every time I've caught up and watched the trustee meetings, there have been some horrendous arguments. Is that still happening?
MW: Yeah. Public comment is pretty heated. People have been really emotional on both sides of this issue. And even the board members have gotten emotional. This past meeting, if you go back and watch the video, you can see the board members are pointing their fingers at audience members and saying, “Calm down.”
It got heated and people were making noise in the room and it's just a big thing that's happening in our community right now, in our county.
KDNK: Some people thought when the Garfield County Commissioners took control of the trustee appointment process and some trustees were appointed who some people thought were more in favor of, you know, banning books or restricting access to books, I think some people were excited about that. That it would change what some people thought was a liberal leaning board. What do you think about what's happening?
MW: I have been a little bit surprised. Tony Hershey is the newest member on the board, and he's one of those people that I think people were hoping that maybe he would restrict access to books. But he was up there this last meeting and said, “No, I do not want to ban books. I will not ban books.” So that's a little bit surprising that he's up there saying,” I hear you. I want to find a solution, but don't ask me to break the law or ban books.”
I am also curious to know what the county commissioners think of all this, think of what's going on at the library because they are the ones who handpicked these trustees to sit at that table.
KDNK: There is some actual hostility between two board members, Adrian Rippy-Sheehy and Myrna Fletchall. What have you witnessed watching the meetings?
MW: Well, I was actually kind of proud of the community at the last meeting in May. Several members of the public came and said, “We're honestly tired of hearing you two bicker.” And, you know, they said like, “Can we please keep this professional?” And some of them even asked both Adrian and Myrna to resign. Neither of them have resigned publicly. Obviously, Myrna was [at the] last meeting in June, and Adrian was absent and excused. I mean, nothing has been said publicly in response.
KDNK: Anything else you'd like to add, Megan Weber?
MW: Just that I hope people are paying attention. I mean, this is something that's a big deal that's happening in Garfield County right now, and so I think people should definitely be paying attention.
All library board of trustee meetings are archived at the Garfield County Library website.
