BRADENTON – Concerned citizens symbolically held up books, such as Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War,” in protest of a controversial proposal by Manatee County Commissioner Amanda Ballard at the April 18 commission work session.
The county currently has a library advisory board that consists of five citizens who advise commissioners on a variety of subjects regarding libraries and their policies, but for Ballard, this isn’t enough.
“There’s been some confusion, maybe some deliberate fearmongering. My colleagues and I have been referred to as mullahs, fascists, Hitler book-banners and other incendiary terms,” Ballard said. “Public libraries have the responsibility to present all points of view, even if I, as an elected official, any other elected official or an advisory board finds those points of view personally abhorrent.”
According to Ballard, the current five-person advisory board was designed in the 1970s and its only requirement for members is to reside within prescribed geographic boundaries within the county.
“I’d like to see a larger collection development board with members that serve certain roles in the county,” Ballard said.
The new board would not have the ability to remove existing material from any county library, but if it did not agree with the purchase of new library items due to content or any other reason, the hope would be that librarians would consider the board’s opinion. In the end, the decision would rest with librarians, not the board.
Ballard closed her proposal by asking for the requirement of a parental consent form in order for anyone under 16 to check out materials related to sex education, reproduction and other books involving human sexuality, including LGBTQ+ materials, even if they are strictly educational. She also asked for general labels on children’s books involving human sexuality, coming-of-age, LGBTQ+ and other similar materials.
Commissioner George Kruse challenged the need for a second board, asking Ballard why a 15-person board was needed in addition to the current board, which would be essentially doing the same thing. Adding in third-party consultants, he said, amounts to the government being much bigger and more intrusive than it needs to be.
“I like smaller government,” Kruse said, “I also think that government is terrible at overseeing my life. To be finding a way to expand government with an additional advisory board in order to tell me more about what to do with my life seems to be counterintuitive to everything I campaigned on.”
The room had more citizens than seen at many meetings and, at one point, bailiffs were brought down to remove at least one person after multiple interruptions were made while commissioners discussed the issue. All were reminded that everyone who wished to speak would be allotted their three minutes.
“I’m a Manatee County resident and I was appalled watching the Feb. 21 meeting in which the board came off as inflammatory,” Anna Maria Island resident Cory Wright said while addressing the board as a concerned citizen. “It was clear in the last meeting that you think some of the libraries’ collections are too gay, too racially diverse and too liberal for your sensitivities.”
Wright’s comments were echoed by numerous citizens who said they think the proposal is taking things way too far and crossing First Amendment lines. Very few in attendance were on board with the expansion for the advisory board.
“We are unsure of the motivation leading to this. If the BCC would like to gain understanding of the library and provide more oversight, the mechanism is already in place,” Julie Perry, of Friends of the Island Library, said in an email to The Sun. “The appointment of a secondary citizen board is a provocative move. The county commissioners, citizens and library users would be better served if staff were allowed to continue their work and the BCC were to engage with the existing library advisory board. We need to remind the commissioners that our librarians are highly trained professionals, that includes book selection processes.”
After the public comments concluded, Ballard revised her initial motion to ask for the admission of additional members to the current advisory board rather than creating an additional board. The motion to expand the advisory board from five to nine citizens was unanimously approved by commissioners. Once the new board plan is drafted by the county attorney’s office, it will return to the board for formal adoption.
