Dear Mr. Lewis,

Randy Evans, Columnist, and representative of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council chose to write his first of two articles in March after reading Marshalltown Public Library board meeting reports in this paper. As far as I know, no one asked him to write them and certainly didn’t dupe him.

As the monthly meetings continued and policy was revised in April, it was obvious that the MPL board cared little for patron concerns. I suppose he read letters to the editor in which I pointed out excerpts from emails between the MPL director and State Library of Iowa gained through a Freedom of Information request and direct correspondence from myself. He wrote again in Nov. highlighting the malfeasance of the MPL administration.

Probably unknown to few local people until it’s read here, is the fact that the 2 articles were published in 13 newspapers, Des Moines City View, the Des Moines Sunday Register and 2 other online news outlets. No matter how it’s spun, it’ a bad look for Marshalltown. The selfish action of a handful of city employees and like-minded volunteers that prohibit the simple addition of 2 highly regarded free publications from a public library casts a shadow over your friends and my friends’ serious efforts to boost Marshalltown’s reputation.

Funds of unknown amounts and unknown man hours have been expended to that end. The remaining city employees serve the public with private preferences in check. Yet, thousands of people will read those papers and be left with a negative view of the Marshalltown Public Library and wonder why it fails to honor its Statement of Purpose, The Freedom to Read Statement and The Library Bill of Rights. Those readers may also rightly wonder why the city administration has allowed a city department to exhibit disdain publicly, month after month toward some of the very people that own the library.

A library’s contents rather than accolades are the true measure of quality.

Judging by some of your comments, you have been fed sketchy information and aren’t worth any further response.