Community Library Network trustee election approaches
COEUR d’ALENE — Next week, Kootenai County voters will choose between a former communications director and a former Post Falls School Board trustee for an open seat on the Community Library Network Board of Trustees.
Victoria Bauman and Michelle Lippert will face off May 20 for the seat currently occupied by Tony Ambrosetti, who was appointed to fill a vacancy last fall and did not run for another term.
After multiple attempts to arrange an interview, Bauman eventually declined, saying she has “too many things going on” and that several members of her family had been sick.
Bauman’s website said she moved to Kootenai County from California in 2021. In a voter guide published by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, she said her qualifications for the elected seat include “being dedicated, thoughtful, enthusiastic and the mother of a young child who shares the common believes and values” of the community. She previously worked in public affairs for private entities, nonprofits and political campaigns, according to her website, and currently teaches Pilates part time.
Lippert was born and raised in Spokane Valley and moved to Kootenai County in 1988. She was an instructor at North Idaho College for 26 years and served on the Post Falls School Board for 24 years. The Idaho School Board Association named her Board Chair of the Year in 2023.
Lippert said she’s running to restore parental rights, library services and intellectual freedom to the Community Library Network.
Two years ago, CLN trustees voted unanimously to adopt a policy that created three types of library cards for minors. Parents and guardians could choose what card their children had, giving them access to the children’s collection, the children’s and teen collection or open access to the entire CLN collection, as well as materials from the regional library consortium, which includes the Coeur d’Alene Library and others.
Now that the board nixed the open access card for minor library patrons, Lippert said parents have less control over what material their children can access than they did a few months ago.
She pointed to a January presentation by the library director, which revealed that 8,906 library cards issued to minor patrons had open access and just 813 were more restrictive.
“The present board seems to disregard the interests of parents,” Lippert said. “I think parents trust themselves to monitor what their kids are reading.”
CLN is combing through the entire collection for material deemed “harmful to minors,” which will be placed in a new “mature content collection” housed in a single room at the Post Falls Library and accessible only to adults.
Proponents of these efforts have maintained that the network’s policies are designed to comply with an Idaho law passed last year requiring libraries to take action to prevent minors from accessing “obscene materials.” Critics say CLN’s policies far exceed the law’s requirements.
Bauman indicated she supports the Idaho law, which is being challenged in federal court.
“Protecting children from sexually explicit and harmful materials is a critical responsibility that does not inherently violate the principles of free speech,” she said in the KCRCC voter guide.
So far, 16 young adult novels have been approved for inclusion in the mature content collection, while another 140 titles are under review. In the meantime, Lippert said, the titles are unavailable for borrowing. Patrons who request titles that have been pulled for review will receive copies from different libraries in the consortium, she said, not from within CLN.
“CLN taxpayers paid for those books,” Lippert said. “Why can’t CLN taxpayers access them?”
Lippert said she also aims to restore library hours and services that were cut last year amid a budget deficit. The cuts included closing libraries on Sundays, a move Lippert said many community members spoke against and few people supported.
“Obviously, the board’s not listening to those constituents at all,” she said.
Lippert