Garco Libraries

The Garfield County Library District and its Board of Trustees have been under fire for three years. What began with complaints about Japanese Manga books at the Silt Branch evolved into the Garfield County Commissioners taking control of the trustee appointment process in 2024. Normal trustee meetings have since turned into yelling matches worthy of the Jerry Springer Show. Megan Webber has been covering the meetings for The Sopris Sun since January. Here she talks to KDNK's Amy Hadden Marsh about the meetings and the new trustees.

Garfield County commissioners stepped in last year to directly manage the library board of trustee appointments - a decision that has stirred controversy. The change came on the heels of a subset of community members who object to library materials they consider pornographic, including certain Japanese Manga books. Other community members are concerned that the library board will be stacked with conservative-leaning members, resulting in unwelcome changes in policy. The commissioners appointed two new library board members in January for the Rifle and Carbondale positions. They listened to candidates for the Glenwood Springs seat in late February.

KDNK’s Hattison Rensberry caught up with Jamie LaRue, the district’s Executive Director, to ask about a contentious board meeting on November 2nd.

All Garfield County Libraries are closed through April 8th. All library book drops are also closed, and there will be no overdue fines during this time.…

The Garfield County Library District is asking voters to decide on Proposition 6A next week. The initiative would raise property taxes within the District…