Community Library Network director walks back some restrictions on children’s library card policy

Members of North Idaho’s interlibrary loan collective on Wednesday pressed the director of its largest member about a policy that seems to exclude children from accessing other member libraries’ materials.

Community Library Network Director Martin Walters walked back a leaked internal talking points document that indicated children from other libraries would not be allowed to access CLN libraries. Walters said the document was for internal use and is not the same as library policy.

Children from other libraries in the consortium are welcome to visit CLN libraries or request items, he said.

The Community Library Network oversees six libraries in Kootenai County outside of Coeur d’Alene, as well as Pinehurst Library in Shoshone County.

Walters was met with skepticism as members of the consortium known as the Cooperative Information Network – which includes libraries across North Idaho as well as Liberty Lake Library and Pend Oreille Library District in Washington – questioned Walters for over an hour at Coeur d’Alene Public Library on Wednesday about CLN’s library cards for minors policy and how it will affect the coalition.

“It’s a struggle for the rest of us who believe in open access to reading to have things restricted and then expect us to play along with this,” said Meagan Mize, president of the consortium and director of the West Bonner Library District. “It is going to have impacts.”

CLN’s board last month approved the policy, which appeared to revoke the ability of 8,900 CLN library cards belonging to children under 18 to borrow books from consortium libraries outside of CLN.

CLN’s IT coordinator Mark Foster, however, said that the procedural rules he is working on would allow children from CLN libraries to visit other libraries and check out books. The only restriction would be that CLN children cannot order or place holds on books outside of CLN. They must physically visit the other library. Walters confirmed this potential change.

Consortium members pointed out that does not match a plain reading of CLN’s policy, which states that library cards for minors “cannot be used to reserve or borrow materials from other libraries in the Cooperative Information Network.”

The policy coincides with the formation of CLN’s mature content collection, which will hold materials the library deems “harmful to minors” under Idaho’s Children’s School and Library Protection Act in an adult-only room at Post Falls Library. CLN trustees said in January the new card policy was to protect children from accessing materials from Washington state libraries not bound by the Idaho law and other Idaho libraries with less restrictive policies.

Children under 18, whether from CLN or other consortium libraries, will not be allowed to check out books from the mature content collection. So far, there are 16 young adult novels in the collection, and library officials are reviewing a list of 140 more titles for possible inclusion.

The exact implementation of the child card policy will partly depend on the technical ability of the consortium’s internet catalogue host to filter materials or place restrictions for certain card types, Walters said. It should not affect the rest of the collective.

“The policy governs CLN minor patrons. It doesn’t govern anybody else,” Walters said.

But consortium members said it could have all kinds of impacts on their staff and patrons and that it violates the spirit of the borrowing agreements.

The consortium is at a turning point as it is in the process of restructuring and reincorporating under the new name Inland Northwest Libraries. It needs to approve new bylaws and a joint powers agreement, and it’s not clear whether everyone is still on board.

Pend Oreille Library District Director Mandy Walters, who has no relation to Martin Walters, said that one of the books in CLN’s mature collection, “Eleanor & Park” by Rainbow Rowell, “is, like, the sweetest book I’ve ever read.”

“I’m a little bit confused and concerned why you wouldn’t send this (book) to my library in Washington state when we’re not subject to this law,” she said. “That feels very affecting to me and my patrons, especially in our tiny facilities.”

Mize said the policy could trigger an exodus of from CLN and shift more of a burden onto other libraries.

For convenience, patrons are allowed to join libraries in the consortium outside their taxing district. For example, they may live in the CLN area but work or attend school in Coeur d’Alene and choose to get a library card there. Under CLN’s previous library card policy, more than 90% of parents chose to have unlimited-access cards for their children.

When CLN changed its previous policy a few years ago, it gave the consortium ample notice so it could adjust to the change, Mize said.

Walters avoided directly answering repeated questions about how the library plans to enforce entry to the adults-only room, and whether staff will check IDs.

Walters declined to answer questions from The Spokesman-Review after the meeting.

The CLN board is scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon at Post Falls Library to discuss possible changes to the policy on library cards for minors.