A recent amendment proposed by the Liberty Lake City Council would give its members the power to approve or repeal decisions made by the Liberty Lake Municipal Library Board of Trustees, which sets policy and makes funding choices for the one-branch system.
The amendment comes on the heels of the board's decision in May 2022 to deny a citizen request to remove the book Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe from the shelves. The City Council voted to uphold that decision in one of their following meetings.
Gender Queer, a graphic novel written for adults, touches on topics such as gender identity and sexuality and is banned in libraries and schools across the country for its including sexually explicit content that is aimed at a mature audience.
The book, however, won awards from the American Library Association, such as the Alex Award, which is given to books geared towards adults that also appeals to young adult readers. Even then, Gender Queer is not kept in Liberty Lake library's young adult or children's aisles, but rather in their adult section. Still, community members wanted it removed from the library entirely.
Since the decision in May, four council members — Wendy Van Orman, Chris Cargill, Jed Spencer and Phil Folyer — proposed an amendment to city law in January that would limit the library board's authority.
"The amendment basically says that the powers and duties of the Library Board of Trustees, as they relate to adoption of bylaws, rules and regulations, are subject to the city council's approval," says Liberty Lake's City Administrator Mark McAvoy.
Many libraries in the Spokane area are part of library districts, which separates them from municipal and county governments and provides them with more autonomy. As the City Council funds Liberty Lake's libraries, it can give itself jurisdiction over decisions made by the board.
In Idaho, just a few miles east of Liberty Lake, libraries have been facing their own set of obstacles in maintaining their authority over their book collections.
This restriction of library authority in Liberty Lake coincides with an Idaho bill that, if enacted, would allow citizens to sue libraries and schools for having certain literature available to minors.
The bill, House Bill 139, is known as the Children's School and Library Protection Act and would prevent Idaho's schools and libraries from promoting or making materials deemed as being harmful to minors available to them in any way.
The bill defines material as being harmful to minors if it includes "any description or representation, in whatever form, of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sado-masochistic abuse."
Under the law, libraries and schools would be at risk of being sued for $10,000 by parents or guardians for making those materials available to children.
The bill passed out of the House Affairs Committee on Feb. 13. The Liberty Lake City Council will consider its library amendment beginning this week, and could approve or reject it as early as next week. ♦