Council hears comments about library’s Pride Month display; library director weighs in

By Ryan Whisner 

Pride Month, a celebration of LGBTQ+ pride often held in June, was the subject of some discussion during Tuesday’s Fort Atkinson City Council meeting. 

In recognition of Pride Month, a display was placed at the Dwight Foster Public Library in its designated teen room. 

During the public comments portion of Tuesday’s meeting, two members of the public, John Donohue and John Hausz, came to the podium to express their concerns about the library’s display. 

Specifically, the two residents raised concerns regarding the content of books made available through the library’s display. 

During his comments, Donohue told council members that he was seeking from them three actions.

Donohue asked the council to form a panel to review the library’s Pride Month display. He also asked the council to request of the city’s library board that it add community and public health-related materials to the display. Additionally, he asked the council to establish a framework for “community standards,” referencing Wisconsin State Statute 944. Chapter 944 of the Wisconsin state code is titled “Crimes Against Sexual Morality.” The statute outlines definitions and penalties for such crimes as bigamy, incest, and adultery, among others. The full test of the statute is here: https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/944. 

Further, Donohue offered his services as a volunteer to help set up a community-based group to consider the framework he was proposing. The committee could then make recommendations to council, he said. 

Within his comments, Donohue noted that the city could take pride in its library and its staff, citing the dedication of each as having contributed to the quality of life within the city since the library’s founding, which, he said, was in 1890. 

Donohue said the council had the ability to grant his requests because it had jurisdiction over the library, because, he said, he believed at least two-thirds of the library’s operating budget is derived from taxpayer dollars, which, he said, served to authorize the creation of a library board that guides the library’s public operational policies.  

Said Donohue: “This ordinance incorporates Wisconsin statute chapter 43, where, among other things, the state Legislature recognizes the importance of free access to knowledge, information, and diversity of ideas by all residents of this state.

Citing his concerns, Donohue said: “This present display includes a number of books, among them such titles as ‘Yay! You’re gay! Now What’ and ‘Queer There and Everywhere, 27 People Who Changed the World.'”

Donohue said he found the titles concerning because he believed they offered sexually explicit narratives, that were accessible to all audiences regardless of age, and, he noted, by his interpretation of state statutes, they were worthy of consideration of the definition of obscene materials. 

Addressing the council, Hausz noted that he was in agreement with Donohue regarding his opinions on the books in the library’s Pride Month display.

“There is stuff in these books that break every statute that we have in the state, I’m sure,” he said. 

“Books are books, and you can’t burn them or you shouldn’t. The teen area is off by itself, and I think this stuff should be put in the adult section,” he added. 

He noted, that by placing the Pride Month display books in an “adult section,” parents would have the option of showing the materials to their children if they so desired. 

“In my opinion, you shouldn’t be able to have a 12-, 13- or 14-year-old person walking in here and seeing this stuff,” he said.

As stipulated by state law, council members listened to the concerns offered within the public comments segment of the agenda, while making no responses and taking no action. 

In a followup interview, Fort Atkinson Online offered Dwight Foster Public Library Director Eric Robinson an opportunity to expound upon the purpose of the library’s Pride Month display. 

Robinson said that he, as the library’s director, would hope that members of the public with concerns about displays within the library would seek him out for discussion.  

“They (library directors) are responsible for the day-to-day operations of a library’s staff, building, services, and collection development,” he said.

Addressing issues of responsibility, he said, in Fort Atkinson, the library board, the library’s managing body, is charged with hiring and overseeing the library’s director. 

Citing state statutes, Robinson noted that the library board also has control over all the library’s expenditures. 

Additionally, he said, he works closely with the city manager on budgeting for the library, and the city manager and a council member each serve as ex-officio members on the library board.

Information about the library board is found on the city of Fort Atkinson’s website: https://cms8.revize.com/revize/fortatkinson/government/boards_and_commissions/library_board.php. 

The library board delegates its authority to select materials, both in print and non-print, offered within the library to the library director, Robinson said. 

“Responsibilities for actual selection shall rest with appropriately trained personnel who discharge this obligation consistent with the board’s adopted selection criteria,” he added.

According to Robinson, the selection process at the Dwight Foster Public Library follows its mission which states, “to help people achieve their full potential by being a leading resource for information, education, culture and recreation.” 

Said Robinson: ”To fulfill that mission, we provide all area residents ready access to a broad collection of materials in a variety of formats that record our knowledge, ideas, and culture within the limitations of space and budget. It is the responsibility of the library to satisfy the diverse education, information, and entertainment needs of its library patrons through the selection, acquisition, organization, and preservation of library materials and to provide skilled guidance in their use.”

Commenting on the library’s Pride Month display, he said that the books referenced by Tuesday night’s public commenters are shelved in the teen room as a part of the library’s young adult nonfiction collection. 

“Primarily, where a book is shelved in the library is based on its genre — nonfiction versus fiction as an example — and the audience (for) whom it is written,” he said, adding that other factors of format — such as audio-visual material as opposed to a book —  may affect where materials are housed. 

Robinson noted that the trained library staff determine where materials are shelved.

“We make this determination based on the audience for whom the item was created,” he said, adding that materials created for children from birth to 12 are housed in the children’s area, materials created for patrons ages 12-19 are housed in the teen room, and materials created for adults are housed in the adult collections. 

“One thing to keep in mind though regarding where an item is shelved in the library is that all patrons, regardless of age, physically have access to all materials within the building,” the library director said. He cited a portion of the library’s material selection policy about access to information, noting: “Article V of the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights states that a person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background or views.” 

In the case of children, Robinson said, the library supports a parent or guardian’s responsibility to guide their own child’s moral development. 

“It is precisely at the point that a child encounters difficult or disturbing information — whether in daily life or a book, video, etc. that the parent must do his or her part,” Robinson said. He added that, in his view, sanitizing the library’s collection to avoid the possibility of difficult moments “dodges the point.” 

Robinson said that he hopes all visitors to the library will be able to find something that interests them within its collection. 

At the same time, he said, he hoped everyone will be able to find something with which they “disagree.” 

“That is the nature of public libraries,” the library director said. 

As part of their general duties, Robinson said library staff members are always happy to help library users find materials that would be a great fit for them, noting that the Dwight Foster Public Library houses more than 90,000 circulating items and is connected to 23 other libraries through the Bridges Library System. 

“We are confident we can help library users access the information they want and need,” he said.

He invited those with questions and concerns about the library or its operations to contact him by email: erobinson@fortlibrary.org or phone: 920-563-7790.