Library Interim Director, Trustees Board Chair Move Forward With Hope on Mutually Satisfactory Resolution on Youth Book Issues

Royal Examiner contacted Samuels Public Library Operations Director and now Interim Director Eileen Grady and Samuels Board of Trustees President Melody Hotek following the August 4th announcement of the resignation of Samuels Public Library Director Michelle Ross “to explore career opportunities at larger libraries.”

Meeting with Grady and Hotek in the Samuels Director’s office later the day of the Ross announcement, we asked for a reaction to the loss of the director who had taken the helm as the COVID-19 crisis was in full swing.

“We will miss her enormously for all of the wonderful things she’s done here at this library, for the partnerships she’s built, for the creativity she’s brought to the job. We are really going to miss her,” Grady said, concluding, ” And wherever she lands is going to be a lucky place.”

In an Examiner file photo, departed Samuels Library Director Michelle Ross gets creative as she visits the “Story Walk” created along the Eastham Park riverside trail. Below, longtime Samuels Library Director of Operations Eileen Grady, right, and Library Board of Trustees President Melody Hotek meet the press in now Interim Library Director Grady’s office. They have each other’s back as they work towards a library content and process resolution that will work for the whole community. Royal Examiner Photo Roger Bianchini

“When our last library director resigned, then Eileen stepped in, took the helm, and we had a smooth transition then, and I expect a smooth transition now,” Trustee Board President Hotek observed, adding, “And the board is 100% behind Eileen with her over 20 years of experience with this library.”

Toward a mutually agreeable path forward

Asked about re-entering the directors’ chair amidst the current fray over library content and book removal requests, Grady said having dealt with its impacts on her job as operations director, dealing with library finances and operations, she was prepared to continue the library’s response to its review of questioned material. “And I have the full support of the board, and Melody’s just been an enormous help as a president of the board. And we’re in discussions with the board of supervisors, and we’re optimistic that we will find the path forward with them,” now Interim Library Director Grady said of the much-discussed “good faith negotiations” with the county’s elected officials.

On the library staff and board’s side, that has included instituting library cards for youth members with increased parental controls and movement of books into older age categories and even the creation of a new category — “New Adult” for 16 to college-aged youth placed in the adult section of the library. “We figure that’s another tool for the parents to be able to say, ‘Don’t go on the adult side, and just stick to the kids’ side.’ We’ve listened to the community, we hear it, we take it seriously,” Hotek told us.

“And I met with the management team here yesterday and talked about all the changes that are happening, with Michelle’s departure and all the changes that are happening with this whole dispute,” Grady added of her now two-pronged job perspective. “And I gave directions to the children’s librarian to take a hard look at putting together a book order that focuses on classics. Let’s offer classics in the ‘YA’ (Young Adult) section, then the kids don’t have to come over to the adult section to find “Pride and Prejudice,” “Sense and Sensibility,” or “Jane Eyre.” There are so many wonderful classics, and we want kids to see those and get into them because those are important too. And that doesn’t mean we’re not going to order what’s new and current,” Grady said of an effort to add more literary diversification in the Young Adult section.

“And we’re optimistic that that will help a lot of the people that have concerns, that all these steps we’re taking will lead to a path forward,” Grady said of the Samuels Public Library staff and board’s hope for a mutually satisfactory resolution of the library funding and operational concerns from both sides of the dispute.

“We want the message out that we’re working hard so that parents have a lot of options so they can do what’s right for their families. Increased parental guidance and still providing a public library with information and books for everybody, for the whole community. It’s for all, for the whole community,” Hotek added of a path forward.

And good luck to us ALL.

(And a little history from the library archives – About Samuels Library: Originally founded in 1799 and renamed Samuels Public Library in 1952, it became the second library in the state to receive a charter and has served the citizens of Front Royal and Warren County for more than two centuries. In the past fiscal year, the library has added 2,035 new cardholders and held 650 in-person and virtual programs, hosting 19,843 attendees. Attracting more than 125,000 visitors annually, the library logged 391,919 total checkouts last year. For more information on Samuels Public Library, go to: www.samuelslibrary.net)