30 August 2022 — 1533 mdt

Dealing with bullet riddled books, choosing a new trustee

An open letter to the staff and trustees
of Flathead County's Imagine If Library

By James Conner

Dear Board Chairman Adams, Library Director Cummins, et al:

Please allow a critic of the library to offer a few observations, and some advice, on two major tasks on which you should make decisions sooner than later: recommending a new trustee, and addressing security concerns that have arisen from recent controversies over the library’s management and direction.

Choosing a new trustee. The key issue is whether you will recommend appointing someone who largely agrees with the current members and who will not make waves, or recommend appointing a fully qualified person with a keen intellect, advanced debating skills, and a willingness to challenge the wisdom of the other trustees.

I urge you to recommend a trustee who will challenge the rest of you, a trustee who will do what is necessary to ensure that all issues are raised and thoroughly discussed. Please recommend a trustee who will make you intellectually uncomfortable, a trustee who will not defer to the conventional wisdom, a trustee who will ensure that the issues before the board are tested in the marketplace of ideas.

Security concerns. According to the Daily InterLake and the Flathead Beacon, two employees resigned after someone placed bullet riddled books in the library’s overnight depository.

It is not clear from the news reports whether the shot up books belonged to the library and were being returned, or were books not owned by the library. The news reports do not identify the titles of the books. Nor do the news stories report whether notes were attached to the books, or whether threats associated with the books had been received by email, snailmail, or another means.

For now, I recommend removing the after hours depository (cut it out of the wall and brick over the opening). It’s an invitation for all sorts of dangerous conduct. Training a security camera on the depository might deter some mischief, but it will not deter someone skilled at disguises who steals a car and drops a bomb in the slot.

Location of board of trustees meetings. The meetings have become contentious. The low ceilinged meeting room in the library’s basement is small and easily filled to capacity. I recommend moving the meeting to a much larger room in Kalispell; for example, the city council chambers, the county commission’s public meeting room, Flathead High School’s auditorium, a lecture room at Flathead Valley Community College, or a ballroom at a local hotel. That might complicate logistics a bit, but I know you and the staff can handle those complications with ease.

The fire bombing of the Red Door. As you ponder security measures, please keep in mind that historically, Kalispell is no stranger to violent acts committed in the name of efforts to protect public morals. Forty-five years ago, the Red Door, which sold erotic merchandise, was fire bombed out of business. No one was injured, but the nightriders never were caught. (The Red Door’s location is now occupied by the excellent Chinese restaurant, The Alley Connection.)

The Red Door’s demise reminds us that disputes over what is or is not pornographic, over what is fit reading for other people, can become so intense that unstable personalities try to resolve controversies with bombs and bullets instead of with reasoned discussion. Lowering the probability of vigilante acts is done best not by removing from the shelves of libraries the books that zealots fear others will read, but by thoroughly discussing the issues in a low key manner in a low key setting and beefing up library security. A meeting in a large room in which 200 attendees seems like a small number is much less tense than a meeting in a hot, stuffy, room in which a crowd of 50 is large enough to make the fire marshal nervous.

Thank you for your attention.

Best regards,

— James Conner, Kalispell