Enfield Library Director to Receive State Award

A firestorm of controversy surrounded the Enfield Public Library's decision to show the " in February. Library Director Henry Dutcher was criticized by several town officials for permitting the screening, and a revised Friday film series schedule was devised, offering more balance in viewpoints being presented on hot topics of the day.

Members of a state library board have demonstrated their admiration for Dutcher's handling of the controversy, awarding him the 2011 Connecticut Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Award. He will be presented the honor at the Association's annual conference in Stamford on May 3.

A description of the award qualifications from the CLA's website says, "This award recognizes an individual for the demonstration of extraordinary personal courage in the defense of intellectual freedom; or for the implementation of a successful and creative project developed to raise awareness of intellectual freedom issues; or for a published work on intellectual freedom."

Maribeth Breen, director of the Clinton Library and a member of the awards committee, said the choice of Dutcher for the honor was an easy one. "This year, it was Henry hands-down," she said. "Henry stuck to his guns and did what he was supposed to do."

Intellectual Freedom Award committee chairman Peter Chase, director of the Plainville Library, said, "Henry exemplified the highest ideals of intellectual freedom that the Connecticut Library Association advocates. He faced enormous opposition, but persevered and showed the film. He showed a lot of courage and allowed the people of Enfield to make up their own minds."

The subject came to light at a Jan. 18 meeting of the Enfield Town Council, when a resident asked the panel to stop the scheduled screening of the film. At that time, several members of the council, including Mayor Scott Kaupin, echoed the resident's concerns about the selection of Moore's film, a scathing attack on America's health care system.

After initially postponing the showing while Dutcher worked out a revised schedule with his supervisor, Town Manager Matt Coppler, the library finally showed the movie on .

"I don't think one person gets an award of this type," Dutcher told Enfield Patch in an exclusive interview Tuesday afternoon. "I worked with the town manager and got overwhelming response from the residents, which helped to settle the situation."

Coppler did not immediately return a phone call from Enfield Patch seeking comment.