The Rio Rancho City Council will vote on a resolution in support of the library and Information Services Department and its staff, policies and procedures at Thursday’s meeting.
The April 13 and 27 meetings featured lively debate about a proposal by a group to ban certain books from the public libraries. Two individuals were escorted out of the April 27 meeting.
The resolution, sponsored by Mayor Gregg Hull, District 3 Councilor Bob Tyler and District 5 Councilor Karissa Culbreath, would show that the Governing Body supports the library and Information Services Department and its staff and believes that sufficient procedures (items cataloged and arranged in separate collections and areas for children, teen, and adult; availability of different library card types) are in place regarding age-related accessibility of the materials available at public libraries. It would also resolve that the Request for Reconsideration Policy related to the selection or placement of an item in the public library collection is the appropriate avenue to address any concerns related to library materials and that the responsibility for children at a public library, and decisions about what materials are suitable, rests with the parent or guardian.
The Rio Rancho public library system serves the more than 105,000 residents of Rio Rancho by providing books, movies, music, events, programs, resources and more to enhance the quality of life in the community and make information available. The public library has material on thousands of topics (over 1.3 million items), and is a heavily used resource in Rio Rancho (35,000 active users who
collectively checked out over 450,000 items in 2022). An average of 9,000 patrons visit the Esther Bone and Loma Colorado libraries each month.
