Library Board Unanimously Upholds Decision to Keep Six Challenged Books, Drawing Standing Ovation

Roughly 600 people packed the Ridgewood Avenue School auditorium -- the board had relocated venues twice to accommodate the crowd -- and nearly 100 residents signed up to speak, though time constraints meant not everyone got a turn. After hours of public comment, the Library Board of Trustees voted unanimously, book by book, to uphold Director Tina Marie Doody's decision to keep all six challenged titles in circulation: "All Boys Aren't Blue," "Here and Queer," "It's Perfectly Normal," "This Book Is Gay," "You Know, Sex," and "It's Not the Stork." The group Citizens Defending Education had challenged the six titles the previous October; under board policy, the decision cannot be reassessed for 36 months from February 8, 2023. When the votes concluded, the audience gave the board a standing ovation.

Speakers included dozens of Glen Ridge residents, students, parents, and clergy, along with New Jersey Assemblywoman Brittanee Timberlake, who told the board she has drafted legislation that would make book banning illegal statewide, and U.S. Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, whose January visit to the library was noted separately in the Director's report.

The meeting also marked the swearing-in of new trustee Tina Payne, chosen from a field of 17 applicants and officially appointed by the Mayor and Council on January 23, filling the seat of Linda Seyffarth after her ten years of board service. As a brand-new trustee who hadn't yet served through January, Payne abstained -- not a "no" vote, but a procedural abstention -- on the routine votes approving the January 11 minutes, the January bills list, and the Treasurer's report; those measures otherwise passed with all other members present voting aye. Trustee Matthew Murphy was absent for the entire meeting.

Separately, Doody reported the library had learned in January that a 2021 state Bond Act grant application, on its third round of review, was approved, bringing $247,361 in construction funding to be matched by the Borough. The library's Business Manager, Judy Bagdon, announced her resignation, with her last regular day set for February 9, 2023.

What to watch

• A Grand Opening event for the library's new pickup lockers was tentatively scheduled for March 25, 2023.
• Further details on the state-funded library construction project are expected in the months ahead.