Mat-Su policy update gives volunteer board first review of new library purchases

What you need to know:

• A Mat-Su Borough volunteer library board will now review monthly purchase lists of new books, DVDs and CDs selected by librarians for the borough's library branches, with flagged items put to a vote. Items voted down will go to borough staff for final review.
• Book lists are posted on the borough’s website ahead of the board’s regular meeting and can be viewed by the public.
• The change is part of a series of updates requested by Assembly member Dee McKee to increase public oversight of library collections and limit children’s access to materials some community members consider obscene.

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PALMER -- Monthly lists of new books, DVDs and CDs selected for Mat-Su Borough libraries will now face a preemptive review by the borough’s volunteer library board, with flagged items subject to additional scrutiny.

The update is part of a series of changes requested last year by Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly member Dee McKee and designed to give residents more oversight of the library system’s collection and how it’s used by children, borough officials said.

The lists include items selected for purchase by librarians at each of the borough’s five libraries in Trapper Creek, Talkeetna, Willow, Big Lake and Sutton. Materials selected for Palmer and Wasilla libraries are not included because those facilities are overseen by the cities, not the borough.

Board members must conduct their own research on materials, borough officials said at a September board meeting in Talkeetna. Individual items on the monthly lists will move forward for purchase unless a board member questions them using an official review form, they said. 

The lists are included in the board’s monthly materials published to the borough website and available to the public.

Materials flagged by a board member will be reviewed at the next meeting and put to a vote, according to a borough library development policy. Items voted down are then reviewed by the borough’s community development director for a final decision on whether they will be ordered. That flag-and-review process mirrors a system created last year for a borough citizen committee, which was appointed by the Assembly to review books challenged by members of the public.

Members of the nine-member borough library board are appointed by Borough Mayor Edna DeVries and confirmed by a vote of the assembly. Individuals are chosen to represent communities across Mat-Su and bring a variety of backgrounds, DeVries said in an interview last year. They are not required to have expertise in libraries or literature.

Borough officials first announced the update in May. A list of more than 500 items was reviewed for the first time at the regular Matanuska-Susitna Library Board meeting last month. No material reviews were requested during that meeting.

Borough libraries typically purchase hundreds of items each month, borough officials said in August. Materials are added to the purchase list based on a variety of factors, including patron requests, overall popularity, and whether they add value to the collection.

For example, the list released in September included a wide array of materials of various subjects and maturity ratings, such as a DVD of the HBO drama “White Lotus,” a new fiction thriller, “The Billion-Dollar Ransom,” by best-selling author James Patterson, and “The Bible for Children,” an illustrated story collection by Murray Watts.

Releasing the list for board review is one of several steps borough officials have taken in response to McKee’s request last year for greater public involvement in the library collection, borough officials said. A second update scheduled for this month will allow parents registered at borough libraries to opt in to receive email alerts when their child checks out a book.

“So much about this new policy was creating transparency for the public,” Mat-Su Borough Community Development Director Jillian Morrissey said in an interview. “If you serve on an advisory board, you’re also a member of the public who’s serving at the will of the assembly. It’s just an opportunity to open everything up.”

Policies like the book list, email alerts and citizen advisory board are needed to protect children from materials that some residents consider obscene, McKee said in an interview last year. 

“Our children have to be protected, and that, to me, is paramount,” she said.

McKee did not respond to a new request for comment this week.

The new policy sparked tense debate among library board members, with some viewing it as a welcome move toward public engagement and others warning that it risks undermining the professional expertise of the borough’s librarians.

“I did not this time even read that list, I will not next time even read that list, because I am not going to second-guess the expertise and training of our librarians,” board member Kathy Kysar said during the September meeting. “I have no training in that area. I know what I like to read and what I don't like to read, and that, to me, it does not qualify me to start looking through and deciding what's on our shelves in our libraries.

Supporters said the review process gives voice to community concerns that might otherwise go unheard in the standard selection process.

“We really need to look at this seriously,” library board member Karen Crandell told the Assembly during public comment at a regular meeting last month. “We've got an agenda going on in our valley, and so I have to come to you guys because my voice is very important at our meetings.”

Crandell said September’s list included books she does not consider appropriate for the borough’s libraries, such as the young adult fantasy “Study in Drowning” by Ava Reid, which includes themes of witchcraft. The list also shows a lack of books by Christian authors, she said. 

The planned purchase list and new parent email alert updates will not be available in Palmer or Wasilla, city officials said.

Palmer librarian Joy Bailey said the city does not plan to release a monthly book list or offer parent notification emails.

Wasilla librarian Zane Treesh said the city will not be releasing a monthly list. He said the city does not plan to offer parent alerts based on advice from the city’s attorney.

-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com

This story was updated Oct. 7 to correct the spelling of Jillian Morrissey’s name.