Maryland: Frederick County orders library audio books English-only

[Harold Schiffman]

County orders library audio books English-only

Originally published August 24, 2008


By Meg Tully
News-Post Staff




The Frederick County Commissioners will not pay for audio library
books in a language other than English, unless the book is teaching
that language.
The new policy was approved Thursday during a routine funding vote and
one commissioner is already calling for a reversal. Three of five
commissioners were present during the approval of roughly $411,000 for
audio books on CD for fiscal 2009, which began in July.  During the
meeting, Republican Commissioner Charles Jenkins said he'd like to put
a condition on the spending that would require the library buy books
in English.
Commissioner John L. Thompson Jr., also a Republican, agreed with the
requirement. Commissioner Kai Hagen, a Democrat who opposes the
requirement, decided to go along so he would have standing to revisit
it later when all five board members are present.

According to county procedural rules, only those who vote in favor of
a measure are able to call for a new vote on it. Commissioners Jan
Gardner and David Gray were not present for the vote. Library policy
is generally decided by an independent Board of Trustees, but county
government funds 70 percent of the library budget. Jenkins said he
wants to impose language requirements to prevent taxpayers from
bearing the burden of buying books in languages other than English. He
made a motion earlier this year that the county adopt English as its
official language.

"We adopted a resolution proclaiming that English is the dominant
language," Jenkins said. "To me, it still makes sense that we don't
use taxpayer dollars buying things in languages other than English."

His in-laws immigrated to Frederick County from Cambodia in the 1970s
and did not demand library books in their native language, and he
doesn't think today's immigrants should be any different.

He said the commissioners should consider language anytime they are
making funding decisions, whether it is for the libraries, Board of
Education, Frederick Community College or county agencies.

Darrell Batson, director of Frederick County Public Libraries, said
the library has very few books in foreign languages, calling the
collection of such books "minuscule" compared to the main collection.

The few that it does have are mostly written in Spanish, he said.

Though the collection in other languages is not significant, he
believes the commissioners were tying his hands when it comes to
responding to the needs of the community. He is also wondering if the
commissioners are going to continue placing restrictions on what books
the library can buy.

"Obviously, this is an English speaking county," he said. "That's of
course what we stock, that is what meets the needs of our patrons. But
we are always evaluating, always seeing what best meets the overall
needs."

Hagen is worried about the unintended consequences of a rushed policy
choice, and asked whether foreign films would eventually be banned
from the library.

"These are decisions that are made by library professionals in a
non-political environment and we should not politicize the process,"
Hagen said. "I trust the staff of the library to continue to make
reasonable and responsible purchasing decisions that reflect what they
know about the people who use the library."

He asked if the commissioners were going to start approving lists of
acceptable books. He also asked if Jenkins would object to books on
global warming.

Jenkins has said global warming is a hoax.

Full books in other languages can also be helpful for teaching those
languages, even if the book is not specifically designated for
teaching, Hagen said.

In that case, Jenkins said, the language learner could go to the
bookstore and buy a new book instead of getting one from the library.

Hagen plans to make a motion to revisit the policy sometime in the next month.

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=79199

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