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Gwinnett Board Restores Funds for Spanish-Language FictionTwo weeks after removing $3,000 earmarked for purchasing Spanish-language fiction from its budget, the Gwinnett County (Ga.) Public Library board of trustees voted June 28 to restore the funds.The original action prompted negative reaction from across the country, as critics charged the board with using the library to make a statement opposing illegal immigration. However, trustee Dale Todd said the decision “was about the money.” She said the library system had too many books in audio-CD format, which cost an average of 10 times as much as print, so the board attached a condition that requires the $3,000 to be used only for printed materials, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported June 19. However, Brett Taylor, who was the only trustee to oppose the original cut, said he recalled that two board members—Chairman Lloyd Breck and Phyllis Oxendine—objected to providing Spanish materials for illegal immigrants at a budget workshop preceding the June 12 vote. Breck said he had only remarked on objections from members of the public, and Oxendine refused to comment on Taylor’s recollections of the workshop. Taylor had also been the sole board supporter of longtime library director Jo Ann Pinder, who was fired without explanation at the June 12 meeting. Breck said the board has also abandoned a proposal to remove an option from the automated checkout system allowing patrons to conduct their transaction in Spanish, which was on the board’s June 12 agenda but was tabled. Breck added he doesn’t know how the proposal got on the agenda or who requested it. Posted June 30, 2006. |
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