Will Fresno library be privatized in county culture wars? ‘It is not woke’

Employees and supporters of the Fresno County Library have begun publicly voicing their concerns that the county’s administrators and elected leaders could turn the catalog over to a private owner.

The Board of Supervisors charged CAO Paul Nerland in June with studying the potential privatization of the library’s three dozen locations following debates over what holidays, including Pride Month, can be observed by library staffers. The library also occasionally highlights book genres in displays based on cultural or other holidays.

The idea comes as county leaders look ahead to next year for what could be a $40 million to $240 million shortfall under the Trump Administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” What kind of savings privatization could bring has yet to be seen.

The board heard the concerns of library employees at a meeting on Tuesday, including Rebecca Deniston, who works in the library. She said the stacks have been an important resource as she homeschools children in Auberry.

“Privatizing libraries statistically hurts rural branches the most,” she said at the meeting. “My family succeeded because of libraries, and it saddens me to think of the families who would not have these opportunities if privatization occurs.”

Critics said they were concerned privatization would particularly hit rural locations, where the private company could crimp hours, reduce materials, cancel programs and even potentially close branches.

Nerland has begun preparing a presentation for the supervisors on a potential privatization, according to Sonja Dosti, the county’s spokesperson. She said it is expected to go to the board in October or November.

Supervisor Garry Bredefeld floated the idea of privatization publicly in May as supporters and critics sparred at a board meeting over whether library employees could attend a Pride Month parade in their official capacity.

Another library employee, J. Butterfield, said she was worried a private library would not offer the options the public one does now. She listed off children’s reading programs, traveling exhibitions, cultural offerings and a program for juvenile offenders, to name a few.

One person who called into the meeting and did not provide a name said the library locations offer more than just books and DVDs.

“They offer a third space where anyone is welcome, regardless of their socio-economic status, race or political beliefs,” the caller said. “This can all disappear if a privatized library system were to be adopted.”

The Friends of the Fresno County Public Library have also in recent weeks been sharing their concerns with “talking points” about a potential privatization. That includes an argument that a private library would not be subject to public records requests, so a private company would not be required to report how they are spending library dollars in the same way a public library’s books are open.

The American Library Association is also opposed to private libraries across the country. There are library systems around the state and country that are privatized.

Library Systems and Services Inc., which is headquartered in Maryland, runs a number of private library systems in California to varying degrees of success. The company touts Riverside, Moreno Valley and other municipalities under its “success stories” label on its website.

Other counties, like Santa Clarita, changed course when that privatization wasn’t providing the results the community was after.

Fresno County Library employees and other classified staffers in the county fall under the SEIU Local 521 union. President Riley Talford also addressed the board this week, saying the public library needs to remain public for the greater community and should not become a flashpoint for identity politics.

“The public library is not an ideology. It is not woke. It is not radical,” he said. “It is just the public library. The public encompasses all of the community — community that you either agree with or you disagree with.”