Thank you for detailed coverage of the Feb. 27 Marshalltown Public Library board meeting.

Prior to that meeting, in an open Letter to the Editor dated Feb. 25, addressed to the MPL board members, I asked one of them (T. Gaffney, J. Lindholm, M. Lyons, R Morrison, A. Beek, E Hall, K. Pink) to add an item to the Feb. 27 meeting agenda regarding a proposed compromise that would both save face for the library admin. and enable library patrons equal access to The Epoch Times newspaper and The American Rifleman magazine, which has been requested over a period of 17 months. Evidently, none of them did so, and because a Statement of Concern was again rejected by Director Rosenblum, the offer of compromise did not make the meeting agenda.

As of now there has been no response from the board. In a director Rosenblum email, I have been called out for contacting the Marshall Co. board rep, J. Lindholm. If it is taboo to contact a board member and dialog between board members and patrons at board meetings is prevented by Director Rosenblum, what purpose do the above listed board members serve? The answer is simple and obvious. Allegiance to the director guarantees no objective scrutiny and no dialog with patrons. In other words, board meetings are for show. What makes this more obvious, is the fact that if more than the 10 people who did sign in to speak had signed in, the comment period would have been reduced from 180 seconds to 120 seconds and no action will be taken unless accompanied by a Statement of Concern, which are, as noted above, conveniently rejected by director.

From the State Library board handbook:

III. Developing and Adopting Policies

Library boards must be mindful that they adopt public policy for a public service.

They should take care to avoid writing policies that are reactionary or punitive. Instead, policy development should keep community interests at the forefront.

The community puts its faith in the library board to make sure the library is operating within the public trust.

One of the most effective ways to gauge satisfaction with library service is by evaluating the library directors job performance. Note that trustees can also evaluate their own performance.

The public is watching. When will compromise be considered?