LPL Board of Control Monthly Meeting

19 February 2024

On the Agenda:

Director's Search Committee Report; Proposed Job Description & Advertisement
 

Agenda HERE

Director's Job Posting HERE

Director's Job Description HERE

Meeting Audio HERE

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The February Board of Control got off to a bang when member Ella Arsement used board comment time to rail against the fact that Interim-Director Sarah Monroe had reinstated library displays.

 

"I hear people saying that this board does not care or support librarians or the library staff members. This is not true," Ella said. "Communication between the board, the interim interim library director, the librarians and other library staff members is a two way street especially when it comes to controversial things happening in the community. Things like book displays being brought back into our libraries."

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Of course, library displays are only controversial because they were banned. The controversy was ended by the interim director when she reinstated those displays.

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"However, when this was recently done as a library board member, I was not given the respect of a heads up a phone call or an e-mail letting me know that this was being done," Ella continued, clearly angry that displays featuring Black History, Women's History, and Pride Month had been returned without her express approval. Even though "supposedly," the board wasn't involved in the decision to remove the displays, and therefore shouldn't be involved in the decision to return them.

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Let's lay bets now on whether the board attempts to ban the displays themselves in March.

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Director's Search Committee Report

As expected, the board rubber-stamped the Director's Search Committee's recommendation to remove the requirement that the new director have an MLIS (Master's of Library and Information Science) degree from an ALA-accredited institution, even though this is in direct violation of current Louisiana law. The one change they did make was to increase the salary range (at Robert Judge's suggestion) to $130,000 per year. Does Judge already have someone in mind for the position? Time will tell.

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Black History Month

The meeting ended with Robert Judge regaling the assembled folks with the story of his genealogical research, and the startling revelation that he was, in fact, "1/8 Nigerian." Because of this, Judge delighted in sharing, HE was actually worthy of celebration this Black History Month.

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"It's an interesting story," Judge stated, "and I was glad to to share it with you at this month in particular, because it's my history too."

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The audience, though used to Judge's rants, was pretty stunned by the ignorance and audacity on display. The general consensus seemed to be: Just when you think Robert Judge has said the most outrageous thing you can imagine, he finds a way to outdo himself.

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Happy Black History month, Lafayette.