CLN trustees hint at litigation involving library consortium

RATHDRUM — While the region’s library consortium works toward a new joint powers agreement, Community Library Trustees alluded this week to possible litigation involving the consortium of which it is part. 

The Cooperative Information Network is a group of 13 North Idaho and eastern Washington libraries and library districts that share their collections. The consortium is preparing to reorganize under the name Inland Northwest Libraries.

Several member libraries have expressed reservations about CLN’s updated policies for minor library cardholders, which state that minor cards “cannot be used to reserve physical or electronic materials from other libraries in the Cooperative Information Network” and bar minor library patrons from accessing material deemed “harmful to minors,” regardless of the wishes of their parents or guardians.

Some library directors have said the policies are overly strict and go beyond the requirements of Idaho law, creating possible legal liabilities for CLN and other member libraries.

When CLN trustees convened Thursday at the Rathdrum Library, Trustee Tom Hanley suggested the board schedule a special meeting to discuss possible legal action. The basis of any legal action is unclear at this time.

“It’s necessary to decide where this board is going,” he said

Hanley added that trustees “didn’t come to a conclusion” about the matter when they met last month in executive session.

“I think there’s too much we don’t know right now,” Trustee Tim Plass said. “We did kind of say our positions, I think, the last time we met on this topic. I don’t think we’ll know what (the other CIN members) want to do until July.”

During the most recent CIN meeting, member libraries agreed to provide feedback on a proposed joint powers agreement in July, with an eye toward approving a final draft by October.

Trustees also agreed Thursday to adopt an updated materials selection and acquisition policy that redefines “materials inappropriate for minors” as “obscene content or propaganda regarding illegal activity.”

“Propaganda” is defined in the policy as “the use of language, imagery, symbols, or narrative techniques to disseminate information in a biased or misleading way in order to manipulate or influence the reader’s attitudes or actions.”

The updated policy defines “unlawful” as “activities that are illegal in the state of Idaho including, but not limited to, abortion, sexual assault, polygamy, suicide and illicit drug use.”

Under the updated policy, material containing such content “shall be excluded from selection and acquisition for the collection curated for minors,” though “age-appropriate materials with serious literary, scientific, medical, artistic, religious or political value for minors may be exempt.”