LETTER: About that Library Reform

In a recent letter to the Editor entitled: Dan Dwyer Won't Be Beholden to Special Interests - Gary Krupp made the erroneous statement that “He (Dan Dwyer) led the charge in reforming the library budget this year which is already bearing fruit. New services are being offered, hours of operation are being added, and the trustees are pursuing his challenge to spend more on programs and less on staff."

Krupp’s statement does not accurately reflect the truth. NH law (RSA 202-A:6) states "The library trustees shall have the entire custody and management of the public library and of all the property of the town relating thereto, … excepting trust funds held by the town."

And while it is true that new services are being offered and hours of operation are being added it is not because the Library Trustees are being “challenged” by Mr. Dwyer to do so, but because the Library Trustees have made those decisions themselves, in the best interest of the town, as its elected managers of the library.

It is not the Town Council (or any one member of the Town Council) who defines or even reforms the library budget, it is the Library Board of Trustees who decide what the budget will be, what the operating hours will be, and even how it will be staffed. As far as the new services being added, if Krupp is referring to the ExpressCheck and the new coffee machine, then again, those services had nothing to do with Dan Dwyer or the Town Council. While the Library Trustees will certainly listen to those on the Town Council, ultimately it is the Library Trustees who are the ones that will make the decisions on how the library is run.

Although the Library Trustees should and do work in conjunction with the Town Council – in fact we have recently invited a Town Council member to sit on the committee to hire a new Library Director – to imply that a Town Council member had “led the challenge to reform the library” is simply not correct and shows a gross misunderstanding of how the Town Council and Library Trustee boards operate.

Wendy Thomas

Merrimack Library Trustee