SKAMANIA & KLICKITAT CO. — The Fort Vancouver Regional Library District Board of Trustees chose to avoid referencing “equitable access” in a plan designed to guide network-wide growth and decision making for the next five years during its Jan. 26 meeting.
In fact, the agreed-upon language contradicted staff-backed recommendations produced by a lengthy consulting process, and had never been reviewed by the public, which ultimately led to the resignation of one trustee.
Monday’s meeting began like the one prior: with dozens of public comments that, by and large, supported the term. Many viewed equity, or providing support based on individual need rather than equal resources to everyone, as fundamental to public libraries, citing bookmobiles and audiobooks as examples of removing barriers to access.
Some said they voted for FVRLibraries’ successful levy lid lift last year with the expectation of equity in mind, and comments also addressed whether “without restriction” should be removed from the proposed definition of “intellectual freedom.”
“Equity is everything,” said Garrett Jackson, a Vancouver resident who estimated that his family read 800 books last year. “Without it, there is not full benefit to members like my daughter who has a disability.
“This makes it so much easier to censor and ban,” Jackson continued, addressing the changes to intellectual freedom. “That shows not just cowardice, but a lack of confidence in your own ideas that they will survive.”
How we got here
FVRLibraries enlisted two consulting companies, Point North and Group 4 Architecture, to develop its 2026-2030 strategic plan, a visionary document that defines the district’s mission statement, values and priorities. Work began in April of last year.
As part of the community engagement process, consultants interviewed each trustee, held three focus groups with staff, formed an advisory committee of key stakeholders, and facilitated seven listening sessions across the district, which covers Clark, Skamania, Klickitat and part of Cowlitz County. Over 85% of staff also participated in a survey, as did nearly 2,000 residents.
The effort generated a cumulative reach of approximately 1.23 million, and survey feedback was geographically proportional with a lean toward Skamania and Klickitat counties which hold 2.3% and 4.4%, respectively, of the district’s total population, but accounted for 4.6% and 7.6% of responses.
In August, FVRLibaries Executive Director Jenniffer Giltrop surmised that the amount of outreach was likely more “than we’ve ever had,” but a few months later during their November meeting, Klickitat County Trustee Olga Hodges questioned whether it was truly representative.
“This has not been a perfect process,” she said. “We just have really a handful of voices, plus some community feedback that was put with stickers and sticky notes to capture very specific rhetorical ideas. Just understand this was not bulletproof.”
On “equity” and “equitable access,” Hodges pointed out that alternatives had been suggested but never formalized, suggesting internal resistance to any change. Clark County Trustees Marie Coffey and Kristy Morgan also asked for different verbiage during their consultant interviews.
“I’m frustrated. My biggest request was to remove the word equity and find a more neutral word,” said Morgan. “There’s a billion other words in the world. We couldn’t find one without ‘equity’?”
Giltrop responded that staff and consultants have looked, but no other option rose to the same meaning. Lisa Keohokalole Schauer, president of Point North, also emphasized that the draft plan was based completely on the engagement process.
“I’m happy to provide additional data if that’s what you need to be able to feel like this isn’t biased,” she said. “There are thousands of inputs here … We have tried to ensure that we’re loyal to the community we also live and work in.”
Then, at their Dec. 16 meeting, Trustee Mary Williams delivered a 20-minute speech criticizing those same three seatmates for, in her view, dragging the district backward, calling their actions “white fragility disguised as concern.”
“Democracy dies in quiet erosion, in small compromises, in semantic edits, in the removal of a word like ‘equity’ because it makes someone uncomfortable. If you erase the word equity, you erase the mechanism that ensures every patron can use their library,” Williams said. “This is about power — who had it, who is afraid of losing it and who is willing to weaponize ignorance to keep it.”
The vote
Consultants and staff came to the trustees’ Jan. 26 meeting with two options in hand: adopt the recommended language that includes “equitable access” in the district’s mission statement and maintains the original definition of ‘intellectual freedom.”
Or, have “fair and inclusive” take the place of “equitable access,” and define “intellectual freedom” not as the “right of individuals to access, explore and express ideas and information without restriction,” but rather the “freedom to read, learn and explore ideas” while respecting “the role of parents in caregivers in guiding their children.”
Williams moved to approve the recommended language, seconded by Chair Megan Dugan. With no other supporting votes, the motion failed, and Trustee Irina Kakorina subsequently introduced her own suite of changes, despite objections from Giltrop.
Kakorina had apparently shared a document with trustees the week prior, but not the final version. Dugan, however, pushed the board to take action, and due to a combination of technical difficulties, confusion and inadequate time to review Kakorina’s proposal, the vote to approve the alternative provided by consultants and staff also failed.
The board then took a 10-minute recess to review Kakorina’s proposal, which suggested the following mission statement: “We open doors and provide access to literacy and learning for all, creating a foundation for stronger, more united communities.”
By contrast, the mission statement recommended by consultants and staff states that “We champion equitable access to literacy and lifelong learning for stronger, more connected communities.”
With little deliberation, Kakorina, Coffey, Hodges, Morgan and Skamania County Trustee Mary Ann Duncan-Cole voted in favor of Kakorina’s version, which didn’t change the definition of “intellectual freedom.”
Trustee Williams resigns
After the vote, and following an executive session to discuss personnel, Williams resigned from her position, effective immediately. Her term would have run through 2030.
“I entered this role with a sincere commitment to public service, institutional integrity and the long-term health of this district. I believe deeply in the mission of public libraries,” Williams said. “I also believe that when governance requires the suppression of clear values in order to preserve internal harmony, participation becomes complicity, and that is not something I can offer.”
As of press deadline on Monday, Duncan-Cole’s profile has also been removed from the FVRLibraries Board of Trustees website.
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