Garfield County’s elected commissioners this week directed the county’s library board to ensure “pornographic materials” aren’t accessible to children at public libraries and can’t be checked out by young people.

How the commissioners would enforce that order — the latest flare-up in a fight over library materials in the Western Slope county — and how the county even defines pornography were unclear when the board voted unanimously to approve the message Monday.

Commissioner Tom Jankovsky acknowledged in an interview with The Denver Post on Wednesday that the Garfield County Public Library District’s Board of Trustees is an independent body that doesn’t have to follow the county’s directive. But, he said, “the reason that motion was made is because we do have the ability to remove all board members from the library board.”

The commissioners “don’t want to go there,” Jankovsky said, but it is an option.

James LaRue, executive director of the Garfield County Public Library District, has received calls over the last year for select adult Japanese graphic novels — some with LGBTQ themes — in the county’s libraries to be stored on a top shelf away from children. Some people have requested the library check the IDs of patrons borrowing those books to ensure they’re over 18.

LaRue called the commissioners’ directive “political intimidation.” He said there is no legal definition of pornography and that, historically, the term has been used to describe all kinds of titles, from “The Grapes of Wrath” to children’s books about where babies come from.

Garfield County’s library does not intend to move the books out of reach, LaRue said, because the facility is not in the business of preventing people from reading.

The contested books include the Japanese manga-style series “The Finder” and “Prison School.”

“There is a keen interest in manga,” LaRue said. “Manga has a huge continuum of content. This was requested by a member of our public, and that’s what we do as a library.”

LaRue said the library district had no record of a child checking out one of the graphic novels — until recently, when a mother opposed to the books brought her child to the library and checked one out under the child’s name to prove that it’s possible, he said.

“It’s very easy to not allow access to what I would consider pornographic,” Jankovsky said during Monday’s public meeting. “I haven’t read the book, but I have read the letters to the editor and seen the graphics supplied to me by opponents of this. The graphics are not only pornographic but sadistic, masochistic, pedophilic — I don’t know if I used the right term on that one, but children shouldn’t be able to get those items.”

LaRue assembled a committee of library staff from different branches who have read the books to determine whether the graphic novels should be retained, reclassified or removed. So far, LaRue said, his staff has recommended to keep the books as they are.

The decision has divided the county with some supporting the library’s stance to keep books accessible and others — including the three county commissioners — arguing the library has a responsibility to protect children from what they deem “pornographic” materials.

After voting to approve the directive, the commissioners asked County Attorney Heather Beattie during the public meeting whether they were setting themselves up for a First Amendment battle over the definition of pornography.

Beattie said defining what constitutes pornography would be difficult and would likely end up being litigated in court.

LaRue said once he receives the paperwork confirming the directive, he’ll be contacting a lawyer.

The directive came after the three Garfield County commissioners decided not to appoint sole candidate Hanna Arauza — a local scientist, community organizer and mother whose resume said she frequents the library — to the Garfield County Libraries Board of Trustees after the library board voted to appoint her.

“I thought we were going to appoint a wonderful board member during this meeting and that it was not going to be a controversial thing,” LaRue said. “The board has always appointed people without issue in the past.”

Commissioners asked Arauza whether she would make pornographic materials inaccessible to children at the library. Arauza told them she believes parents are responsible for monitoring what their children are reading.

The commissioners said they wanted input on Arauza’s appointment from the community at a public forum scheduled for Wednesday evening in which Garfield County residents would be asked to share their thoughts in favor of or against restrictions to library materials.

“It’s frustrating because this shouldn’t be a political thing,” Arauza said in an interview. “It’s a non-political appointment to a volunteer position on the library board, but the heads of our county have made it political.”

Republican Commissioner Mike Samson noted during the meeting that Arauza’s husband, Steven Arauza, was running as a Democratic contender for Samson’s seat in the 2024 county commissioner election.

During Monday’s meeting, commissioners inquired whether the library board refusing to abide by county directives could meet the threshold to disband the entire library Board of Trustees.

The county attorney said library trustees could be removed under specific circumstances such as committing willful misconduct or negligence of duty.

“What they’re trying to do is say, ‘We told the library board what to do and we’re the presiding officers and, therefore, we have now given ourselves an excuse to fire the lot of them,’ LaRue said. “I would describe that as a political threat, as political intimidation.”

The commissioners apologized to Hanna Arauza at the conclusion of this portion of the meeting, saying they were sorry she was “caught in the crosshairs.”

During the meeting, the resident who made the original complaint against the Japanese graphic novels spoke and offered to show the public images from the books that he opposed.

“It makes me sad that something like these books we have had for over a year that no one read except for the person who requested them (have) become the focus of the life of the library,” LaRue said. “There’s a potential legal battle on the horizon, and for what? Protecting children they don’t have from books they haven’t read.”

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