Huntington Beach’s ongoing battle between City Council members and librarians is heating up as officials debate what books should be on the shelves or if library services should be privatized.
The ongoing situation saw one of Surf City’s top librarians abruptly resign from her position last month.
Publicly.
“I feel completely let down by our city leadership,” said Melissa Ronning, a principal librarian at the council’s last meeting on April 16. “The fact that we are referred to as pedophiles and groomers on social media and nobody from the city speaks up to defend us speaks volumes.”
Ronning’s resignation came as residents have argued for months over the direction of the public library, starting with the creation of a city panel that would review what books could enter the children’s section at the public library and which books ought to be purchased.
[Read: Huntington Beach Creates Panel To Decide What Books Go Into City Library]
Arguments around the library’s operations have only increased in recent months, with city leaders saying they want to discuss outsourcing library management to a private company as a group of residents announced efforts to put the issue of the book review committee on the ballot for voters this fall.
The issue has even gotten national recognition, with the city getting mentioned on the latest episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on Max for its new policy on books in the children’s section.
While Ronning is the only one to have publicly announced her departure, she’s warned city leaders she likely won’t be the last.
“I know people are looking for opportunities and I know that there have been people who have been interviewing – so I know I’m not going to be the only one,” Ronning said in an interview with Voice of OC. “I was just the first.”
The city has already seen a wave of resignations and departures from its upper management, with the city manager and several department heads leaving after the Republican city council majority came into power.
[Read: Surf City Bleeds Executive Staff Under New City Council Leadership]
Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark, the council member who’s been the driving force behind many of the changes at the library, thanked Ronning for her work in a statement to Voice of OC.
When asked about a possible wave of resignations, Van Der Mark wrote “I respect their right to do what they believe is in the best interest for them and their families.”
While the panel has not yet been created, city staff started removing books from the children’s section in February, but were stopped after complaints from residents highlighting that the panel that was supposed to decide which books stay or went had not yet been created.
The order to begin moving books came from acting City Manager and Police Chief Eric Parra’s office, according to city spokesperson Julie Toledo, who pointed out that the city council’s new policy banned children from having access to “any content of sexual nature.”
While the policy didn’t offer a definition of sexual content, Ashley Wysocki, the director of community and library services ordered staff to use the Wikipedia definition in an email obtained by Voice of OC via the Public Records Act.
“Until City Council or City Attorney’s Office provides a formal definition of ‘sexual content,’ please use the definition that can be found through Wikipedia as guidance,” Wysocki said in an email to senior library staff on Jan. 12.
But Ronning said that was swiftly shut down once the public learned the books were being moved.
“We got told that they were tired of waiting for us to do something and they wanted us to move books out of the children’s section,” Ronning said. “Because there was press when that happened and it didn’t reflect very positively on the city, they told us to stop.”
It remains unclear how effective the policy of moving the books has been.
According to Ronning, 36 of the 40 books that were moved out of the children’s section have been continuously checked out since their shift to a restricted section.
“If you came and looked, there are four books on that shelf,” Ronning said. “They either got checked in and checked out again or people are holding onto them, but we haven’t seen them.”
But she said the last straw for herself and many of her fellow librarians was the city council’s proposal to privatize the library’s management, potentially putting their jobs and pensions on the line.
“My job doesn’t exist in a private library system,” Ronning said. “Many jobs will just disappear and while they still have librarians on staff, they don’t have the number of librarians we carry.”
It’s unknown how much money the city could save by switching to a private operator.
Library Systems and Services, the operator that approached the city with the idea, has seen cities like Escondido and Santa Clarita pull out of their program and save money, according to reporting from Capitol and Main and the San Diego Union Tribune.
City staff are currently soliciting bids for someone to take over operating the libraries, and the three Democrat council members have scheduled a discussion for the next city council agenda that would instead let voters decide in the November election if they want to make the change.
“Our award-winning library team members are already seeking jobs elsewhere or have resigned. Just the process of contemplating a change is directly and negatively affecting our library,” wrote Councilmembers Dan Kalmick, Rhonda Bolton and Natalie Moser in a letter.
The shift is also being publicly opposed by the Orange County Employees Association, the union that represents the librarians, who are asking people to oppose the move at the next city council meeting.
“Outsourcing our City libraries not only hurts the City but is a dangerous action that demonstrates a willingness to undermine public service, good jobs, and our community assets,” union staff wrote in an unsigned post. “At OCEA we are strongest when we leverage our greatest strength—OUR STRENGTH IN NUMBERS.”
Ronning said that she’d originally had every intention of retiring in Huntington Beach after working there for over 10 years, but that she couldn’t continue working for a city council and city management that weren’t supporting the library.
“We haven’t heard from our acting city manager since he’s taken over. He’s never come over to talk to us,” Ronning said. “This was painful. It was like you’re asking us to give you reasons on why you can just get rid of us.”
She noted the one bright spot over the past few months had been the residents who came out to support librarians.
“Their support, it’s making me cry honestly. They’ve been wonderful,” Ronning said. “We’ve come to work every day and still do our job every day, we’re still serving our community every day and it’s because of them we feel like we have people behind us.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated residents were seeking a ballot referendum on the issue of library privatization. The referendum is instead focused on removing the library’s book review committee. We regret the error.
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.
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