Keep Politics out of Nebraska Libraries. "No" on LB969

UPDATE: March 5, 2016

Your voices have been heard! We are pausing the #noLB969 signature gathering because we have it on good authority that the bill is indeed dead this session. It was Sen. Tyson Larson (Dist 40), the bill's sponsor, who said as much in the Fremont Tribune:

With fewer than 30 days left in the Legislative session, LB96 doesn’t have a priority designation and won’t be heard this year.

 

“That’s what’s happens in short session, you have to pick what your priorities are going to be,” Larson said. “This year, I personally had other issues that were higher on my priority list. Moving forward, LB969 will be very important for things such as transparency in good government.”

 

Larson said he’ll probably reintroduce the bill next year.

We're paying attention to what the Senator said at the end, so we are not closing this petition or stopping our work in support of Nebraska library boards. No one on this side of the issue wants to see libraries politicized like LB969 proposed. We're ready if he does anything next session.

If you haven't signed up for our action alerts yet, please do it today. Situations like LB969 are not uncommon. Your voice here made a difference. 

Here is the background from our original petition post on January 29, 2016:

The Nebraska legislature is currently [January 2016] reviewing a terrible bill for libraries that needs to be stopped. This bill is designed to remove the power of the community to control their own libraries through library boards of trustees. LB 969 would shift the responsibility for our libraries away from the trustees and librarians to be solely controlled by local Mayors and City Councils. This means that instead of serving communities and providing the resources that communities deserve in a fair and unbiased way, libraries will be forced to bow to the pressure of local politics to ensure their continued funding. LB 969 is isn't the will of the people, it's a political power grab. As one of the few institutions left where people of all classes and ability have unfettered access to education and information, this kind of hostile takeover of libraries will hurt our communities. 

LB969 puts politicians in charge of local libraries instead of librarians and trustees. Read the bill. Start on Page 8. Then review 5 new pages of laws on Pages 13 - 18.  Here is our analysis: 

1. LB 969 would strip library boards of trustees of their civic and taxpayer accountability responsibilities and reduce them to advisory only. 

2. The law would make it the “sole responsibility” of the mayor/council-appointed library advisory committee to decide what books people can read, not professional librarians who are trained in literacy development and skilled at helping readers of all abilities, interests, and levels. This makes what is available at the library subject to political agendas and local politics rather than letting adults read freely. (15-230 Sec 6 and parallel language in 16-251)

3. The law would require that all donations made to a library are instead made to the mayor and city council "in trust or otherwise". Do people want donations intended for the library to instead go to whatever a mayor or council think should be done with them? (15-230 Sec 2 and parallel language in 16-251)

4. Historically in Nebraska and all across the country, library boards of trustees make hire/fire decisions about the library director. This keep that position of public trust free from politics and patronage. LB 969 allows for not just the library director to be appointed by the mayor and city council, but it also allows them to hire or fire anyone on staff - from the librarian to the custodians - making the library a huge political patronage honeypot. (15-230 Sec 4 and parallel language in 16-251 )

5. LB 969 will make day-to-day library policies into city or town law. It will keep libraries from changing and growing to respond to their communities. Every time they need to innovate to meet the changing needs of the community, they will need to get the city council and mayor to change the town laws. (15-230 Sec 3 and parallel language in 16-251)

6. LB 969 changes an easy to understand law that’s been on the books for generations in every city and town in Nebraska into a dense thicket of dozens of new laws and regulations that radically change the way the libraries serve the public, and who controls the money.

7. Your public library records are supposed to be confidential in Nebraska. It takes a court order to open them. If LB 969 passes, mayors and city councils are now the trustees for your library. Do you want the politicians to have access to your borrowing records and what websites you visit?

8. It removes local control of your library. LB969's provisions allow the state to step in and dictate how to run your community's own library.

This law will affect every city and town in Nebraska. A mayor isn't a professional librarian. A city council shouldn't be the board of trustees for a library. And yet LB 969 gives them all the authority and responsibilities as if they were.

Please sign the petition below to ensure that libraries remain a crucial and important lifeline that their communities deserve.