CLN: Provide access to information

I am alarmed by the statements made by the Community Library Network board trustees in their January meeting in regards to controlling what library patrons can check out and limiting access to information and materials.

The statements made by Tony Ambrosetti are in direct opposition with the CLN’s mission to empower discovery, and the CLN’s strategic planning goal to remove barriers to library services and improve customer experience. 

It seems like the board and new director are actively involved in disempowering their tax-paying library patrons, limiting their access to information, and creating unnecessary barriers to access library services. 

One of the incredible things that libraries do well when they are thoughtfully and carefully managed is provide access to information. Access to information is made so much easier through borrowing consortiums, the sharing of materials and resources, creating welcoming spaces, and access to digital materials and resources. These are things that reduce barriers to services, why are trustees suggesting the removal of these resources and practices? 

So they can control what kids check out? Don’t they have their own kids to raise? 

Have the library trustees taken the time to read the CLN’s overview — I’m assuming so, since it was recently updated in 2024 and claims that, “the choice of library materials is an individual matter and, while anyone is free to reject for themselves materials of which they do not approve, they cannot exercise censorship to restrict the freedom of use and access to others.” 

Why is the board restricting freedoms? Have they read their job description: “Trustees serve as advocates of intellectual freedom.” Kootenai County, your CLN trustees are failing at their job.

EIJA SUMNER

Idaho chapter lead, Authors Against Book Bans

Moscow