A controversial bill before the Utah State Legislature that takes policy-making authority away from county library boards and establishes it uniformly with county commissions was sent back for a rewrite January 21 after librarians complained they had not been consulted. A public hearing on the bill had been scheduled that morning, but the dozen or so library officials and patrons who showed up to oppose Senate Bill 87 were told that it was under revision.
Salt Lake County Library System Director James Cooper said in the January 22 Salt Lake Tribune that the bill would politicize decisions normally made by trustees, from meeting-room policy to materials challenges and Internet filtering issues. The bill, which is strongly supported by the Utah Association of Counties, also specifies that the county librarians and library staff are to be hired by the county instead of the board, which would act solely in an advisory capacity.
Deputy State Library Director Douglas Abrams told American Libraries that whatever legislation is ultimately passed would likely cause a ripple effect in other Utah libraries. “Currently both city and county library statutes parallel each other,” he said. “The Utah League of Cities and Towns would probably get on the stick and make the 43 municipal libraries conform to the county rearrangement.”
County leaders are hoping that a rewritten bill will clear up concerns that the counties are trying to usurp power from library boards, the Tribune reported January 23.
Posted January 27, 2003.