As a cold civil war is waged in libraries across the nation, a conservative library board in Wyoming retains far-right fame for having led the fight against an organization viewed as a bastion of wokeness.
“We are the first library board to remove association with the American Library Association (ALA)—the first in the nation,” Chelsea Butler, chair of the Campbell County Library Board told The Daily Beast on Monday. The board broke with the ALA in October.
On Friday, the conservative majority of Butler’s board chalked up what seemed to be another clear victory. As was first reported by the Cowboy State Daily, the board voted 4-1 to fire longtime library director Terri Lesley after months of tension surrounding her refusal to weed out the library’s shelves based on a vague new policy aimed at shielding children and teens from sexual content.
But the board underestimated the cumulative appeal of someone who had long labored with a belief that the purpose of a library is to serve others. A tweet about the meeting by the Wyoming Democratic Party was probably also a factor in who packed the standing-room-only meeting on Friday. Video shows that the great vocal majority of those who packed the meeting on Friday—maybe all but 20 of 250—rose to give Lesley a standing ovation as she departed.
Terri Lesley is seen second from the left during a July 28 meeting of the Campbell County Library Board.
YouTube
“We love you, Terri!” a woman called out.
A number of Lesley’s supporters signaled their displeasure with Butler.
“I can’t remember the last time I was flipped off by a bunch of little gray-haired old ladies,” Butler later told The Daily Beast, adding that he could not discuss Lesley’s dismissal because personnel matters are handled in executive session.
But in recent open meetings, those in control of the board had made clear their displeasure with Lesley.
Sage Bear, who was chair of the Campbell County Library Board during a July 24 board meeting, asked Lesley when the library staff could begin implementing the “Policy for Protecting Children from Harmful, Sexually Explicit Material” that the board instituted in June with guidance from MassResistance, which the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as a far right, anti-LGBTQ+ hate group.
“So Terri, what’s a reasonable time frame for them to go through the policy, go through the books, and do a weeding?” Bear asked.
Lesley suggested that the board use an established challenge procedure, which various private citizens had used when they found a particular book objectionable. One hitch, however, is that challengers have to certify that they have actually read the book. The process would also place the burden on the board to actually name the books rather than just sit back and insist that every title better conform to their policy. The board took the position that it was the library’s duty to police itself. It did not officially name a single book, but tasked Lesley with ensuring all of them conform.
“That puts the onus on the staff for violating the First Amendment instead of the leadership of the library,” Lesley replied.
“They’re not personally responsible,” Bear said.
“I feel like we are personally responsible,” Lesley said. “We’re the ones doing it. We’re the ones physically doing it.”
“Well, if that’s the way you feel, then I feel like you should find another job,” Bear told her.
Five days later, Lesley had a 10 a.m. meeting scheduled with the newly elected chairperson, Butler.
“To review the weeding process, or so I was told,” Lesley told The Daily Beast. “Instead he showed up at the meeting with Sage Bear.”
Lesley says Butler and Bear asked her to resign.
“They told me this was because I refused to move the books,” she recalled. “They never told me which books they were referring to or why they should be removed to review.”
When Lesley refused to resign, they told her that she would be fired at a meeting called for the next day. Lesley invoked her right under Wyoming law to have a public hearing.
At 3 p.m. on Friday an overflowing crowd filled the Wyoming Room at the Campbell County Public Library in Gillette. Lesley took her usual seat at the far end of where the board sits. She might have saved herself if she announced that she was acceding to the board’s wishes and provided a timeline for achieving it.
“I had a good idea about what books they wanted removed,” she told The Daily Beast. “I could’ve just decided I don’t wanna endure the drama that will come from this. I could have done that.
She then added: “But ethically I could not have done that.”
She stuck to her guns when the time came for her to give a public statement to the board.
“For 25 years, this was my dream job,” Lesley says in a video of the meeting.
“And the last two years, they’ve been pure hell. The easiest thing in the world would’ve been for me to resign at any time during the last two years. But these years have been hard on my staff as well, and they have deserved my support. And for me not to take the easy way out.”
She went on: “I have a great staff. It has been a great honor and joy to work each and every day with each and every one of the library staff members. They are the best, and they deserve to be treated with the respect and dignity as professionals.”
She thanked the many decent souls of the county who had supported and the library staff during this trying time.
“So much of our community has stood with me and supported me in these last two years,” she continued. “They've kept me going in my darkest hours. I will never be able to repay them for all they have done for me during this time. They deserve a first-rate library.”
She bid them and the library farewell.
“All I have ever tried to do to the best of my ability was to provide them that in the end. I feel like I had left them down in some regards, that there must have been something more I could have done.
“But that’s out of my hands now. It’s in the board’s hands and I don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”
The crowd reacts after a July 28 meeting of the Campbell County Library Board ousted Terri Lesley.
YouTube
A vocal majority expressed their support for Lesley. Butler warned that clapping and cheering were against protocol for a public meeting. He and the board then retired into executive session.
Lesley remained in her director’s seat as the board deliberated her fate, which she knew they had already decided.
“It was a long 45 minutes,” she later told The Daily Beast.
The board returned to their seats.
“I make a motion to vote for Terri Lesley’s position to be terminated as the Campbell County public library director,” board member Chelsie Collier said.
Members voted by raising their hands, four in favor, just one opposed. Butler cut short a period of public comment when his warnings against applause were again ignored.
“Why don’t you get a book on how to run a meeting?” somebody called out.
A number of women gave Butler the finger or raised their hands expressing opposition, accompanied by shouts of “You suck!”
Lesley was no longer library director when she stood. But even if she had lost the board vote 4 to 1, the standing ovation as she strode out showed she had won the crowd by roughly 230 to 20.
The hurt of being banished from the library she loved was still in Lesley’s voice on Monday. But she was not defeated.
“Who knows what tomorrow will bring?” she said. “I’m an eternal optimist, so I’m hoping for good things ahead, and I’m thinking this is gonna be alright. I’ll take on the next challenge, whatever that is.”
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