The City of Kenai received a Collection Equity Award from the Network of the National Library of Medicine Region 5 for the purchase of health and wellness materials for the Kenai Community Library collection. The $1,500 award is to be used for a variety of formats to support the health information needs of the residents of Kenai and surrounding communities with a focus on purchasing materials for underrepresented groups based on census data.
According to Library Director, Katja Wolfe:
“Topics include things like stress release, self-care, mental health, healthy habits, dealing and living with chronic conditions, dealing and living with chronic stress, caregiver support, suicide prevention, traditional medicine, traditional knowledge, complimentary nonwestern medical books ,reference books about Medicare and Medicaid, health literacy books, how to be able to find information and speak to your doctor about conditions that you might have. We are also going to purchase items on specific conditions. For example, cancer, ADHD, all kinds of different conditions, also women’s health and men’s health titles.”
However, several comments from the general public and from various members of the city council seemed to indicate the need to request a list of specific titles that Wolfe was going to purchase for the Kenai Community Library.
One member of the community, Christine Hutchison, told council:
“In the next couple of weeks, you’ll get a list of all the books she wants to order, but I still cannot believe she doesn’t have other books that cover these subjects. I would ask you to simply reject this. The library council, the Friends of the Library, can’t they raise $1,500 to buy these books?”
In response to the concerns raised by members of the public and council, City Manager Paul Ostrander said:
“The library director was budgeted $59,000 last year to purchase books for the library. That is totally up to her discretion and the discretion of the folks that work for her. They consistently weed the library for titles that are out of date. They replace them with more up to date titles. It’s something that is completely within her discretion. I do think that looking at each one of those title by title and determining which are or are not appropriate is a slippery slope that we need to be careful of.”
As a result, council motioned to postpone voting on the ordinance till the first city council meeting in December. Because of that, some members of the public organized a GoFundMe to raise that $1,500 in support of the library’s staff and ability to purchase books. Over $2,600 has been raised so far.
