The children’s section at the Carbondale Branch Library features a wide variety of books and colorful artwork. The library is part of the Garfield County Libraries, which has received both community pushback and support for its refusal to restrict certain books with adult content. On the cover: The adult graphic novels section at the public library in Carbondale has several book series that have been called out by some community members for having explicit sexual content. With three seats opening up on the Garfield County Libraries board, residents on both sides of the book restriction debate are making their voices heard.
Garfield County commissioners Tom Jankovsky and Mike Samson this week appointed two new public library trustees to represent Carbondale and New Castle, but they couldn’t agree on a Glenwood Springs appointee and will reopen applications for the position, pushing a decision into the new year.
Commissioner John Martin, whose term is up in mid-January, recused himself from the appointments because he was unable to attend the applicant interviews conducted earlier this month.
Amid ongoing controversy over Garfield County’s library board appointment process and whether book restrictions should be considered at the county’s six libraries, officials received 27 applications for three seats that were open or up for reappointment by the end of this year. Of those, 11 were for the seat representing New Castle, seven applied for the Carbondale seat and nine for the Glenwood Springs seat.
“I will just say that we had a lot of good applicants in all three positions, a lot of qualified people, and this is not an easy decision,” Samson said at a meeting on Dec. 16. “I think with all the controversy that has been surrounding the library board, it shows that there were a lot of people in our community paying attention to what was happening, and a lot of interest once things got rolling.”
Of the two new appointees, commissioners were in alignment with one of the library board’s recommended candidates, Brit McLin of New Castle, but they chose Stephanie Pierucci Hirsch of Carbondale over the board’s request to reappoint current trustee Jocelyn Durrance.
The commissioners ended in a stalemate over the Glenwood Springs seat — Samson nominated former teacher Jacqui Edelmann, while Jankovsky pushed to reappoint incumbent library trustee Susan Use. No compromise was reached, and the commissioners will reopen applications for the position with a decision expected next month, after Commissioner-elect Perry Will takes his seat on the board.
The adult graphic novels section at the public library in Carbondale has several book series that have been called out by some community members for having explicit sexual content. With three seats opening up on the Garfield County Libraries board, residents on both sides of the book restriction debate are making their voices heard.
Book restrictions and government oversight
The Garfield County Public Library District has seven positions on its board of trustees — one for each municipality in the county, plus an additional at-large seat.
The county commissioners have historically had the final say in approving library trustees who were first vetted, interviewed and then recommended to them by the library board. But elected officials started taking a more active role last year after receiving a citizens petition led by a Rifle resident requesting the restriction, or removal, of two adult graphic novel series and all books with parental advisory warnings.
The commissioners have since received a counter-petition from citizen-led group Protect Our Garfield County Libraries. In its petition, the group posits that the local controversy has been fueled by a national book-banning effort and calls for the county commissioners to once again allow the library board more control over selecting its own members.
During Monday’s meeting, Jankovsky pointed out that each petition now has about 1,400 signatures.
“I would say there’s strong support both ways,” Jankovsky said. “It’s probably similar to how our county is: We’re a purple county and it’s almost 50-50 on how voting goes.”
According to LaRue, library staff have never had a problem with kids trying to check out the books in question or fielded complaints from parents whose kids have read them in the library, and the library district has so far declined to restrict access to any of the books.
Garfield County Libraries trustee and treasurer Michelle Foster, left, along with commissioners Tom Jankovsky, center, and Mike Samson, listen to public comments during a meeting Nov. 21. The library board and commissioners held the meeting to get public input on a draft intergovernmental agreement that outlines how library board appointments should work in the future.
In the fall of 2023, the commissioners denied the library board’s request to appoint local parent Hanna Arauza as a trustee representing Rifle, and instead passed a resolution last spring reinstating their authority to oversee the appointment process. In May, they chose Rifle resident Myrna Fletchall to fill the open seat.
In a special public meeting Nov. 21, county commissioners met with the library board to discuss a draft intergovernmental agreement (IGA) to formalize how the appointment process will work in the future. During the meeting, Samson expressed concern over a provision proposed by the library district that would prevent commissioners from declining to reappoint current trustees “without good cause.”
“I think that binds us as a board, and I do not think that is good government,” Samson said. “I think it’s good that we have new blood in things from time to time.”
The commissioners have since decided to remove the line in question from the latest IGA draft, but the library board has not yet signed the updated agreement.
A bicycle sits outside the entrance to the Carbondale Branch Library on Oct. 31. On Monday, Garfield County commissioners chose not to take the county library board’s recommendation to reappoint the current Carbondale trustee, instead appointing local parent and author Stephanie Pierucci Hirsch.
Censorship a ‘slippery slope’
For the open New Castle trustee position, Garfield County commissioners chose McLin, a local parent and former chief of Burning Mountains Fire Protection District who was also the library board’s recommended candidate.
McLin will finish the final year of former trustee Crystal Mariscal’s board term after she resigned last month.
During the applicant interviews Dec. 5, two commissioners and three members of the library board asked McLin and other applicants a series of questions ranging from their vision for the future of local libraries to their thoughts on the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights and state Senate Bill 24-216. The bill, which was passed by the state legislature in May, requires libraries in Colorado to establish written policies for situations such as requests to remove certain books.
In his interview, McLin emphasized his experience as a fire chief bringing together agencies with differing views on how best to serve the public and shared his stance on whether libraries should take specific measures to prevent kids from accessing certain adult books.
McLin said censorship is a “slippery slope” and shared a conversation he had with his 12-year-old grandson about the effort by some residents to restrict, or remove, certain adult graphic novels.
“And I asked, ‘Well, Alex, how do you feel about that?’ And he said, ‘Well, you know, the Bible’s got kind of a lot of violence and bloodshed and mature content,’” McLin said. “You’ve got to be a little careful when you get into censorship.”
But asked about whether the libraries should enact a policy for books similar to the rules they have to protect children from material on the internet that is deemed harmful to their beneficial development, McLin said he supports the idea.
“I guess I’m kind of surprised that that doesn’t exist currently, at least in practice, if not policy,” McLin said. “With that term ‘reasonable,’ somebody gets to decide what’s reasonable, and I think that as far as the board of trustees goes, that is reflected by the person they hire to manage their library district for them.”
McLin added that when he was growing up, his local library was set up to discourage young kids from accessing mature content.
“My first experience with the public library was in Long Beach, California, in 1955, and right next to the librarian’s desk was a section labeled ‘Young Adults,’ and you all learned that that meant not before your 12th birthday,” McLin said. “And I remember being really excited about turning 12 and being able to find out what was in that part.”
McLin also expressed his interest in ensuring that the library adapts to changing technologies and needs in the community.
“Who knew we were going to have an internet 20 years ago? Who knew we were going to have cellphones that actually had more computing ability than the Apollo moon shots?” McLin said. “So, looking at the future, it’s to continue to connect communities, to provide services and to be a library, and the library is essentially a functional storage of knowledge and information, whether it’s digital or hard copy.”
Several signs for upcoming community events greet visitors at the entrance to the Glenwood Springs Branch Library on Dec. 13. Since Garfield County commissioners couldn’t agree on a top candidate to represent Glenwood Springs on the library district board in the latest round of applicants, they will reopen applications for the seat and make a final decision after Commissioner-elect Perry Will takes office in mid-January.
Applicant chosen over current Carbondale trustee
For the Carbondale seat, the commissioners did not take the library board’s recommendation to reappoint current trustee Durrance, instead choosing Hirsch, a local parent and author. She will serve a five-year term starting next month.
“I thought it was intriguing that she was a professional author,” Samson said. “It’s interesting to have an author be on the library board, and I was impressed with the work that she had done.”
In addition to writing true crime novels and founding the local group Roaring Fork Valley Moms, Hirsch runs her own publishing company and started a program for young people to write and publish books.
“The future of all humanity depends on the ideas that we’re reading and the ideas that we’re writing,” Hirsch said. “So, giving the community this form of personal expression, this connection with human spirit through character building, there’s nothing that builds more empathy and understanding than reading and writing books, in my opinion.”
During her interview this month, Hirsch also answered questions about whether she supports restricting kids’ access to books with parental advisory warnings.
“When I was in my younger developmental years, some of the mature audience selections were in a special area,” Hirsch said. “That said, I also resonate with some of the other applicants that parents need to be responsible to educate their children with the opportunity to make decisions based on what they understand as the family’s moral compass.”
Hirsch recalled being an avid librarygoer who sometimes read books beyond her age, especially in her teenage years, and said she appreciates that state Senate Bill 24-216 protects access to information without discrimination based on age and a range of other protected statuses.
At the same time, she emphasized reasonable solutions to ensure that the library remains a safe place.
“If there’s something clearly inappropriate for a 3-year-old, for instance, by pictures, it just goes on a high shelf,” Hirsch said. “And so I think this is an issue where very practical solutions can be made to make the entire community feel safe.”
When it comes to the future of the Garfield County Libraries, Hirsch said she wants to see the library district grow its role as a community connector, especially for those who might be feeling isolated or lonely.
“In the month of October, unfortunately, a man from my yoga studio and two other men in the same week took their lives because they felt very alone,” Hirsch said. “And in my experience, not only do books and the characters help me to feel connected to the human spirit, but I think the library is a resource that a lot of people in this valley need to feel less alone and to feel inspired.”
Garfield County Libraries Glenwood Springs trustee Susan Use, left foreground, makes her case for reappointment to commissioners and fellow library board members during applicant interviews Dec. 5. The county commissioners made appointments for the New Castle and Carbondale library board positions Monday, but they couldn’t agree on the Glenwood Springs seat and will reconsider applicants in the new year.
Commissioners at odds over Glenwood appointee
During Monday’s meeting, Samson and Jankovsky each had different top choices for the Glenwood Springs library board position.
Samson nominated Edelmann, a recently retired Liberty Classical Academy teacher, for a five-year term, but Jankovsky did not second his nomination, instead expressing his preference to reappoint Use, the current library trustee, in what would be her last three-year term. Library trustees are limited to serving three terms, with the first term being five years and reappointments being three years.
“I felt that it would be important to have some consistency on the board and have that depth of her being there, and she has her master’s degree in library science,” Jankovsky said. “Talking to her through our work session with the library and also through her interview, I felt that she was open to listen and to accommodate if necessary.”
Jankovsky also shared his second choice, former Glenwood Springs City Council member Tony Hershey, and his third, local parent and school board member Maureen Biermann.
But Samson stayed the course with his backing of Edelmann and suggested that they push a final decision until Will takes office in January.
“I don’t think it will be a great impediment to the library board to function without one person for a month or two,” Samson said. “So, I would say let us reinterview.”
Samson requested that they not accept any new applicants for the seat, but the county’s attorney, Heather Beattie, suggested reopening the application and advertising for the position before conducting a new round of interviews, which would probably push a final decision to late January.
No date has been set for the next round of interviews for the Glenwood Springs library board position. Use’s current term is up on Dec. 31.
