Frequently Asked Questions - the Samuels Library Campaign

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The 53 are a group of individuals from a church in Warren County Virginia called St. John's the Baptist Catholic Church.  They objected to LGBTQ+ materials in the library so they submitted reconsideration forms (598 1st round, 202 2nd round) to drown the library staff and force their views on the community.

On June 6th, 2023 in order to force the library to remove the materials the 53 demanded that the Board of Supervisors cut funding to the library.

The following week (June 13th) the Board agreed to fully fund the library, but hold 75% of the budget until September.

I am not on the BoS, so I can not speak for them directly.  However the idea is they 'kicked the can' down the road (September) in order to give the library time to make the changes.

Samuels Public Library has agreed to two new policies - 

• Tiered cards - Parents can select a restricted card for their children.  The two levels are juvenile which can only check out juvenile materials, and YA which can check out juvenile and young adult materials.
• New Adult Section - a new section has been created called the New Adult section, this will have the materials with mature content moved to it and will be on the adult side where the restricted cards can't check them out. 

As of today's date (8/2) the BoS have created an MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) and sent it to Samuels Library.  Samuels will review it with their legal team and either sign it, or send it back with proposed changes (think counteroffer).  The MOA will be discussed only in closed sessions; so either acceptance or counter offer I expect at least one more closed session on the matter.  Once both sides agree to the MOA the Board will get to bring up the funding again for a vote.  At that point I hope they release the entire funding to the library.

I am not an economist, but I am an involved citizen of my county and an active volunteer at the library.  This is going to cost both sides money.

We as a county have to pay for the legal advice given to the BoS on this matter.  The police officers that have been requested at the various meetings cost tax dollars.

The library has to pay additional legal fees, they can't afford to hire additional staff so they inevitably have a backlog of work. 

But it's also divided our community and stressed out the library staff.  This was a building with a 99% satisfaction rating on a community survey just a few months earlier.  Now they have been attacked and called all sorts of awful names.

Our town has once again made local, regional and national news and not for a positive reason.  We are a community that relies on tourist dollars, it's not a good look.

Not to say that there haven't been some positives -  this has inspired people to get involved.  Warren County loves Samuels and came out in force to show it.  Number of library cards, attendance and circulation numbers are all up.  But it came at the coast of morale for the staff which can not be understated or forgotten.

Update on Aug 7th - On Aug 3 the Board of Trustees accepted Michelle Ross' resignation.  So we lost our beloved director, and now the library enters into a national search for a new director.  They expect this could take 6 months, in the short term they have promoted an interim director from within.

There are a number of ways people can help - not just Samuels but libraries across the county.  Because this isn't just unique to us, it's happening everywhere!

1. Sign up for a library card - online application
2. Attend a program - adult and youth events
3. Donate - online donation or in-person!
4. Volunteer - Adult Volunteers 
5. Join Friends of Samuels Library (FOSL) - application  - FOSL Website 
6. Visit - daily visitor count matters, so just walking in shows your support.
7. Visit the bookstore - that little box that looks like a house (picture below)?  That's a book store, money spent there goes back to the library.  And the prices are cheap!  $2.50 hardback, $1 trade paperback, $1 puzzles, $1 DVDs, $1 coffee and more!!
8. Like their social media and interact!

• Facebook 
• YouTube 
• Instagram