The Beltrami County Board is proposing a roughly 40 percent cut in funding for the Bemidji and Blackduck libraries, which are part of the Kitchigami Regional Library System.

Library supporters protested the cuts Tuesday — some dressed as their favorite literary figures, such as Little Red Riding Hood, or even as actual books, like Robin Wall Kimmerer’s “Braiding Sweetgrass.”

If the Beltrami County Board’s cuts go through, the Bemidji library would have to go from being open six days a week to only four. And it would have to cut about four positions from its staff of nine.

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One of the people who could lose his job is Michael Lyons. He's the children's librarian and hosts story time three days a week, using puppets, arts and crafts and music as learning tools.

"I kind of have my fingers crossed that we're going to be OK, that we'll find funding some other way,” Lyons said. “Or, you know, maybe we'll have to go part-time for a short time and come back.”

One of the protest's organizers, Beata Grantier, said she wanted to show her support for the library while also making a splash. Grantier was dressed as Tom Joad from the novel "The Grapes of Wrath." She said the book’s themes are enduring.

“I believe one of the main antagonists in this book is hunger [or] poverty,” she said. “And we don't want to be impoverished from our words, our books, our learning … We’re better together and stronger together."

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The protesters sat in on a county board work session, where County Administrator Tom Barry explained that the board’s proposed cuts were oriented around two principles. The first is to focus limited resources on county mission operations. The second is to meet but not exceed mandated levels of service, unless they make or save money. 

"Community programs are important things to have in a community,” he said. “But when our county is facing a situation where we're looking at the potential of up to $5 million dollars of budget reductions at the hand of the state and federal government agencies, we have to make adjustments."

Bemidji resident Randy Berg took issue with the board’s logic.

“Blaming the federal and state governments does not absolve this board of its responsibility to identify, prioritize and fund essential government services,” he said.

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Berg said to operate the library at the statutory minimum is indefensible.

"There can be no better investment of public money for the public good than libraries. There can be no better guarantee of the continuation of our democracy and a society of ordered liberty than fully funded libraries. I know that you have heard from your constituents. Heed their voices."

The Kitchigami Regional Library System’s director did offer the county commissioners an alternative proposal: the KRLS could dip into its reserve funds to reduce the amount of money Beltrami County pays into the system.

The commissioners will hold a hearing in December where they will vote to finalize the county budget for next year and make a decision on the proposed library cuts. 

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