In a special meeting on April 24, the Garfield County library board voted 7-0 to retain three books that a library district resident had challenged earlier in the year, according to Garfield County Libraries Director Jamie LaRue.
The books were:
- “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe;
- “This Book is Gay” by Juno Dawson;
- And, “Let’s Talk About it: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships and Being a Human” by Erika Moen and Matthew Nola.
The books are available at all six branch libraries.
The library district ran a legal notice for the special meeting on radio station KMTS. LaRue said the board did not take any comments from the public during the meeting, held over Zoom.
On a related note, a March 3 Scripps News service article on book bans and challenges in libraries and schools began with quotes from LaRue.
“My whole belief is the purpose of the public library is to be a place to investigate the world … In the last 15 to 20 years we’ve started to see new voices, people of color, LGBTQ, different perspectives and experiences. And, as those voices start to rise, our society starts to change.”
LaRue, with more than 25 years of experience in libraries, explained most libraries have policies in place where people can challenge books to either have them removed or placed in a different section of the library.
University of Denver archivist Dave Fasman said, “You’re starting to see cases immediately jump from ‘There is a book on the shelf’ to ‘We’re going to stop this,’ instead of, ‘There is a book on a shelf, let’s talk to a librarian about it …”
When asked, LaRue said it’s on the parents to communicate with their children. “Talk to your child. Tell them that you don’t want them to read it. The article concludes with LaRue saying he believes that in America today, besides all of the noise and polarization that goes on, “I believe we have a deep thirst for meaningful conversation. We want to figure out what matters, what’s important.”
In other news…
At its meeting at the Parachute branch on May 4, the board was scheduled to discuss a $21,000 proposal from Planning Solutions (of Englewood, Colorado) for space planning and furniture selection for the New Castle, Silt and Parachute libraries. Among other things, the proposal addresses:
- In New Castle, the lobby and service area, the history room, the staff break room and lounge seating;
- In Silt, expansion of study rooms, lounge seating;
- In Parachute, the entry lobby and study rooms, and adding shelving in the children’s area.
The library district is extending its Newsbank database to a larger collection that will include more than 3,700 U.S. news sources, “U.S. News and World Report”, “Hispanic Life in America” (which includes 700 Spanish language newspapers and periodicals), and “Heritage Hub” (which produces access to hundreds of years of obituaries and death notices across the U.S.). This info comes from a recent report by Technical Services Director Jenn Cook.
The Garfield County library board is appointed by the Garfield County commissioners. The board members are:
- Jocelyn Durrance (Carbondale), term expires 12/31/04;
- Michelle Foster (Parachute), term expires 12/31/25;
- John Mallonee (at large), term expires 12/31/26;
- Crystal Mariscal (New Castle), term expires 12/31/25);
- Adrian Rippy-Sheehy (Silt), term expires 12/31/23;
- Carolyn Tucker (Rifle), term expires 12/31/25;
- Susan Use (Glenwood Springs), term expires 12/31/24.
Carbondale branch trivia
- The library changed its name from the Gordon Cooper library to the Carbondale library when the new building was constructed several years ago. Cooper was one of the original seven U.S. astronauts. He was raised in Shawnee, Oklahoma, but his mother moved to Carbondale.
- The three long benches in front of the Carbondale library are made of spruce trees that were removed when the new library was built.
Comments are closed.