LAKE LUZERNE — In a tumultuous first regular meeting since a planned and now-canceled drag queen story hour was announced in April, the Rockwell Falls Library Board of Trustees delved into another issue that has brought attention on community libraries around the country: book banning.

During last week’s board meeting, trustees discussed a resolution against book bans, which newly elected Trustee Josh Jacquard took exception to because he claimed it would diminish the board’s ability to discuss what material would be deemed appropriate.

“I know that book bans, generally, historically have talked about things like, ‘1984,’ they talked about things, like American classics. We’re not having that conversation anymore,” he said. “If you go over to the young adult section, there are books that promote Critical Race Theory. There are books that promote a homosexual lifestyle. They promote it.”

Jacquard demanded the board produce a list of book titles and authors’ names that had been purchased in the last fiscal year, accusing Library Director Courtney Keir of promoting a “specific agenda.”

“They’ve all been purchased newly, with a specific agenda and a specific purpose and it just so happens to correspond with other events that we’ve been talking about,” he said, in an apparent reference to the drag story hour.

When it was explained that a complete list of books and material was available for public view through the SALS website, Jacquard responded, “That’s not good enough.”

Jacquard then referenced the video of the board’s Aug. 16 meeting in which Sara Dallas, director of the Southern Adirondack Library System, was discussing how to respond to parents who ask about pornographic material in the library. In that video, Dallas is heard advising the board during a discussion on strategic planning.

“Just be prepared, understand how it happens … if you’re in the supermarket and somebody came up to you and said, ‘Why do you have that book on your shelf, it’s pornography,'” she said, before giving a hypothetical response: “‘Well thank you for letting us know, we have a procedure in place. Go into the library, fill out a form and we’ll look at it as the board.'”

“That is unacceptable. That cannot happen,” Jacquard asserted at last week’s meeting. “If that’s the kind of book ban policy we’re talking about, that is garbage and this library would be irresponsible to sign on to that.”

“We’re not banning.” Board Vice President of Finance Patricia Lewandowski responded.

“‘1984,’ and the American classics we should keep, but pornography, no way,” Jacquard interrupted without specifying any particular title, or genre, but received an uproar of applause and whistles.

“I think according to the First Amendment and the Constitution, I don’t think you can ban certain topics from a public library,” interjected the other newly elected trustee, Kathleen Jones.

Jones went on to say that she doesn’t believe public libraries have a right to regulate what material is available to the communities they serve: “Perhaps you don’t think that somebody should be reading it, but your opinion is not the general public’s opinion.”

Jacquard then clarified that his consternation regarding the resolution involved the word “ban” itself.

“The wording, ‘banned books,’ is garbage. We’re talking about not buying those books with taxpayer dollars,” he said. “If you want those books in your home, go buy them with your money.”

In an attempt to move the meeting forward, after Jacquard had accused the other members of trying to “silence” him, board secretary Kathleen Mitchell agreed to obtain the titles and authors’ names of the books purchased for Jacquard, which he said he hoped people would read and be just as offended over.

“Just the name and the author,” he said. “So people can look them up for themselves and they can say, ‘Wow, that book is outrageous. Are you serious? Our taxpayer dollars are paying for that.'”

Encapsulating a proposed procurement policy and book ban resolution, the board decided to table the vote to accept the 2023-2024 budget pending further review and discussion at future meetings.