Bauman wins Community Library Network race

Victoria Bauman won the race for a seat on the Community Library Network board of trustees, garnering 10,002 votes throughout Kootenai County for 56% of the vote.

Her opponent, Michelle Lippert, received 43%. 

Bauman could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening. 

Before polls closed on Election Day, Lippert urged CLN patrons to keep a close eye on the decisions that trustees make, particularly regarding changes to the materials that are available on library shelves and cuts to library hours and services. 

“I want the community to be aware of what’s happening in the library,” she said. 

Bauman’s victory further consolidated power on the CLN board of trustees. All five trustees were backed by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee at the time of their election, though Trustee Vanessa Robinson has diverged from the rest of the board on several issues.  

The race was defined in part by differing approaches to what materials should be available on CLN shelves and the level of control that parents should have over what materials their children can access. 

Lippert pointed to the board’s decision to ax the “open access” card for minor library patrons as an area of concern. 

“They’re telling parents they can no longer give their children full access to the library,” she said. 

Parents and guardians previously had the option to choose a library card for their children that allowed access to all CLN materials. According to a January report, about 91% of all library cards issued to minors had open access, or a little more than 8,900 cards in total. 

In a voter guide published by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, Bauman indicated her support for efforts to prevent minors from accessing certain library materials. 

“I am a strong supporter of parental rights in the protection of their children and dedicated to supporting parents’ rights to keep sexually explicit and harmful materials out of the hands of their children,” she said. 

For Lippert, cuts to library hours and services were a major issue during her campaign. She noted that all CLN branches are closed Sundays and, at some branches, hours have been scaled back even more than that. 

“I’ve heard from parents in Spirit Lake and Harrison who say closing the libraries at three o’clock is detrimental to their communities,” she said. “That’s when kids get out of school.”

    Lippert