Embroiled in Controversy

CELINA - Less than 24 hours after the Mercer County District Library's tax levy was renewed with 60% of the vote, over 30 people packed the library's monthly board meeting on Wednesday afternoon.

The library has been engulfed in controversy regarding alleged sexual themes in several books housed in the kids' and teen section.    On Oct. 26, county commissioners appointed chief complainant Andrea Strable, 39, of Celina to replace 40-year library board member Jan Morrison.

Commissioner Dave Buschur at that meeting made a motion to appoint neither candidate at the time, saying both candidates were the subjects of slander. However, the motion died due to lack of a second. He then abstained from the vote.

As a result of Strable's seven-year appointment, Morrison's term expired Oct. 31. Strable's term began Nov. 1 and runs through Oct. 31, 2030.

Wednesday's board meeting began with public comment, which lasted nearly an hour.

Former library circulation manager Renee Carpenter of Mendon spoke first. Carpenter said she had worked at the library for seven years before resigning last Friday.

"I never planned on leaving the library, it was a job that I loved," she said. "My perfect fit. I love all of the patrons, my coworkers and everything I did. This was my true calling in life."

Carpenter said the library began receiving objections to some of its materials, known as requests for reconsideration, last year, which did not sit right with her.

"And then we started getting bombarded with them this year," she said. "We started getting called groomers and pedophiles on social media, and because of that I had to start going to therapy."

Carpenter said after facing backlash, the library "caved" and removed all teen book displays, which did not sit right with her.

"Recently I received an email from my (library) director before I started my new job," Carpenter said. "It felt like a punch in the gut. Andrea Strable was going to be the new board member."

Carpenter said Strable in June 2022 filed a request for reconsideration of the book "Icebreaker" because it "has two men on the cover that form a romance."

"She thinks that homosexual material should not be on display in the library," Carpenter said. "She says she didn't say if she'd read the book, so she might be judging the book by the cover alone. I'm so sad that this happened. I realize that she's only one of seven, but knowing that she does not approve of homosexual material, there is no way that she should sit on a public library board."

Following Carpenter, Fred Wiswell of Celina congratulated Strable on her recent appointment and shared his thoughts on the matter.

Raised in the Roman Catholic Church, Wiswell said he'd recently become a baptized member of the New Horizons Community Church in Rockford.

"What's happened in that time is that I've become much more immersed in the Bible," he said. "I'm a registered Mercer County Republican. I'm not an extremist by any means. I read the Scripture each and every day. I'm so happy that the levy passed. We have such a beautiful library system throughout the communities, and it really breaks my heart that this is going on."

The lack of compassion is not Christ-like behavior, Wiswell continued.

"When you live, you live with love and compassion and respect," he said. "I know what the Bible says about different lifestyles, but I still love those individuals like my brothers and sisters in the Lord."

Bob Hibner of Coldwater, who is also the chair of the Mercer County Republican party, said the public was misled about Strable's concerns regarding homosexual content in books.

"I think it's been more about overt sexually explicit material, whether it be homosexual or heterosexual, and primarily that it be accessible to minors," he said. "Yes, we should not judge, and we should discuss things in a charitable way. There's been a lot of restraint from those who have brought concerns. I think that's very justified, and yet there doesn't seem to be any openness to hear some of these concerns and maybe to protect some of the youth and the minors."

He claimed that if he were to supply some of these books to minors, "obscenity charges" would probably be brought against him.

The library received formal and informal complaints over the past year, including Strable's 15 requests for consideration of books with alleged homosexual and sexually-graphic themes.   

Library director Liz Muether noted there is no record of any requests for reconsideration until 2020 when the board received one. Two were made in 2021, one in 2022 and 15 in 2023, the latter of which were submitted by the same person, she said.

Public records requested by The Daily Standard show Strable made contact with Muether in June 2022 regarding her concerns.

Strable filed a request for reconsideration of "Icebreaker" by A.L. Graziadei, which was on display and features two men on the cover.

"(The) book has two men on front cover that form a romance," she wrote. "Should not be (in) or display or in library. Inappropriate."

Strable asked in the same request that Muether "please remove homosexual material from display."

Strable in March made another request for reconsideration of the book "The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers." Strable reportedly found the book on display in the teen/tween section of the library.

"Book is unsuitable for display and to be in the teen/tween area," she wrote. "Book has very explicit sexually inappropriate content for minors."

The library on Oct. 27 released a statement to patrons about "misinformation" about the library that was circulated throughout the community.

The letter referenced the many requests for reconsideration the library received this year and titles reviewed by the library.

"Following that review, the Graphic Novel/Comic Book Collection was separated into Teen and Adult," the letter stated. "Over 400 items were reviewed and numerous titles were moved from the Graphic Novel section located in the Teen area to the newly created Adult Graphic Novel section."

In addition, the release reinforced that all are welcome at the library.

"We provide materials and services to everyone without prejudice. The library cannot and will not discriminate."

Missy Moeller of Chickasaw asked Muether about a comment she made recently on local radio regarding misinformation.

"Basically, over the past three weeks, I've spent most of my days fielding phone calls of people asking me questions and I'm answering them," Muether said. "From a whole range of, I don't know where they are getting their information. For instance, somebody told me … that if the levy passes it was so that we could put more porn in the library. I tried to explain to them we do not have porn in the library."

She added that a patron was told the library has sexually-explicit books on display in the little kids area. She assured that is misinformation.

"We do not have, nor have we ever had sexually-explicit material in the little kids area," she said.

Moeller responded, saying that by having books with sexually-explicit material accessible, the library board is putting the books in the hands of children.

Buschur, who was also in attendance, spoke as a commissioner, patron and parent. He said he was not in favor of or against either candidate.

"The commissioners, we see the worst side of most people in this county," he said. "To a point where it was hard to sleep. I talked to Fred Wiswell … I broke down and actually cried. I was on the phone with Fred the Wednesday before they made the appointment."

He said he even contacted his former pastor at a retirement home because he was sick of all of the slander online.

"There's a whole lot of humility lost in this county," Buschur said. "People are just crude and rude on Facebook. In the position that I was in, I was getting a lot of Facebook snapshots sent to me from family and friends."

Buschur said a lot of the things the library has done correctly were not made aware to the public.

"I seem to be maybe the only person in the county who has put a parental control on their phone," he said. "I had to get a library card to do it. So to be honest with you, I don't use the library, my wife uses it every Thursday religiously."

Buschur said within 10 minutes he was able to get a library card, pair it with his kids' library cards and restrict the works of an author he doesn't want his children to read.

"I hope people will consider a little foresight and kind thinking that if there hasn't been a huge outburst in the county about the library system in the last 40 years, that Liz probably hasn't had to research how to put parental blocks on until like the last 12 months, and it's hard to think on your feet whenever you are getting (expletive) thrown at you on a daily basis."

Muether updated the board and attendees on parental controls available to patrons, pointing out no juveniles from Darke, Mercer, Auglaize, Van Wert, Allen and Logan counties are able to use the self check out station.

Parents can use the SEO Library app to set parental controls on kids' library cards and monitor their library activity. Also, parents at any time can place custom restrictions on their children's library cards, an option that has always been available.

Muether discussed the recent review of the graphic novel section in the library.

Prior to 2018, Muether said comic books and some graphic novels, also referred to as manga, were categorized as nonfiction in all Mercer County District Library branches.

In 2019, the teen service coordinator noticed that the genre wasn't circulating well and asked if the library could create a graphic novel section in the back of the teen area on a separate shelving unit.

"Over the years, any graphic novels purchased were shelved in that area," Muether said. "One of the books from the original section called 'The Stranger' by Jacques Ferrandez … was added to the collection in December 2016 and categorized as a nonfiction. It was moved to the new graphic novel section on Feb. 23, 2019."

Prior to 2019, Muether said the book was never checked out. It was then checked out in 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023.

"The total check outs were about five," Muether said. "After receiving requests for reconsiderations in March, the entire graphic novel section was reviewed and the graphic novel section was then separated into teen and adult, and over 400 books were reviewed."

She added that in May 2023 "The Stranger" was marked missing or stolen from the library collection and has not be returned. It is no longer in the library.

Muether also touched on the Celina Senior High School book discussion, which she said no longer exists.

"For several years, the Celina Senior High School has offered a voluntary book discussion group for high school students," she said. "Our library provides multiple copies of the titles they choose for the group. Mercer County District Library does not select the books. The high school would notify us of the titles they selected and then we would request copies for them."

"We do not endorse them either," board president Tom Watts quickly pointed out.

Each month throughout the school year the chosen high school discussion books were on display in the library.

"In April of 2023, the … group chose poetry books by Rupi Kaur, thus they were put on display," she said. "The poetry book 'Milk and Honey' by Rupi Kaur was always categorized as adult and shelved in the adult nonfiction section."

In April of this year the book was briefly on display as a part of the discussion group, she continued.

"It was removed from display after a short time in April after complaints surfaced on social media and were voiced to staff," she said. "No request for reconsideration was ever received."

"Milk and Honey" was also marked stolen or missing from the library over the summer and is no longer in the library collection.

The library has not been contacted by the high school regarding the group. Muether said she was told they no longer have the group.

In the meeting's final moments, Watts, a 40-year board member, commended all of the progress and change Muether has helped facilitate.

"Our facilities have advanced so much, and in the last seven years since Liz has been in charge, she's been very forward thinking, and the computer lounge is an example of that," he said. "Libraries are more than just people coming and checking out books. We provide so many services to our community, it's multi-faceted. I hope everybody appreciates that and realizes that it takes a lot of work."