Street-facing view of Samuels Public Library and Children’s Garden Photo by Amy Hayes

Samuels Public Library, in Front Royal, VA, has deep roots dating back to 1799. But over the past two years, Samuels Library has been hit by a concerted book banning campaign that turned former county partners against the library. In March, the Warren County Board of Supervisors (BOS) voted not to renew the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the library that would guarantee county funding through the end of the library’s fiscal year, on June 30. Without this critical funding stream—slightly over $1 million, a small percentage of the county’s budget but the majority of the library’s—the future of Samuels Library is now in jeopardy.

For many years, the library had a supportive working relationship with Warren County. The library has operated as a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization since 1978 and, therefore, relies on outside funding sources, as well as private volunteers, to keep costs down; in 2024 it logged more than 8,000 volunteer hours. The county has historically not been involved in the day-to-day operations or administration of the library. But a series of book challenges beginning in 2023 drew the attention of the County BOS, and two and a half years later, the library is still suffering repercussions.

SNOWBALLING CHALLENGES

In early 2023, a local group, “Clean Up Samuels,” challenged approximately 140 “objectionable” books in the library, mainly titles by or featuring LGBTQIA+ individuals and families, claiming that they were inappropriate for children. Starting in April the group, made up of 53 individuals, began submitting requests to remove the books. BOS members Jay Butler and Vicky Cook reported that the group hosted “Beer, Babysitting, and Cleaning Up the Samuels Library” parties. “They had prizes for someone who could fill out the most forms,” said Melody Hotek, president of the Library Board of Trustees. “You’d have people sitting there with crib notes filling out forms.”

The group eventually submitted some 800 Request for Reconsideration forms. Library leadership and community members vocally supported existing collection development policies, and residents wrote hundreds of letters in defense of the library’s practices.

In a good-faith effort to address concerns, management instituted a limited youth library card that would permit access to older adult or online items; parents could opt in if they wished. In addition, the YA collection was physically separated into two age ranges, one for younger teens and one for 16 to college age—new adults—to be relocated in the adult section. All young adult titles were reviewed, at a cost of more than $50,000 in labor and materials. Those efforts did not appear to appease the County BOS. In June 2023, they voted to withhold one quarter of allocated library funding.

However, that October the Library Board of Trustees and County BOS were able to reach consensus on an agreement that would restore library funding through June 30, 2025.

NEW BOARD, NO MOA

According to Hotek and Director Erin Rooney, at that time Clean Up Samuels members began working to gain control by populating the five-person BOS with members sympathetic to their cause. In January 2024, two new county supervisors were elected; at a FY25 budget proposal meeting, one—Richard Jamieson—immediately questioned the county’s involvement in funding Samuels Library. The crumbling relationship was clear when Rooney called Warren County Public Works to report a major roof leak at the county-owned library building that fall, and she was told it would no longer do work for Samuels Library.

In its “2023 Samuels Public Library Debrief & Research Final Report,” authored by BOS members Jamieson and Cook, the County BOS claimed that the library was not providing transparency or accountability about its finances to the county, despite using supporting information taken from the library’s public website. The report also objected to county representation on the library board. Samuels Library bylaws stipulate that one BOS representative sit on the 16-member Library Board of Trustees—Cook, the County BOS chair, has been on the library board for two years, with full voting rights. In a 4–1 vote, the BOS elected to establish a new Warren County Library Board to effectively replace Samuels Library’s board.

“They did the whole report without any input from the library, so there was no chance to counter their numbers,” said Hotek. The library held three public Q&A forums to address the county’s allegations.

“We thought it was imperative that we allowed opportunity for the community to come in, and since this was such contentious topic, ask anything they wanted to know, any questions that they had,” said Rooney.

The library’s legal team filed an emergency injunction request in January to halt the creation of a county library board, arguing that the ordinance to do so was passed unlawfully, as changes made during the December 10 public hearing were not advertised or made public beforehand, as required by Virginia code.

“We’ve had a public-private partnership all these years. You don't have to inject this other body in there,” said Hotek. “Their bylaws are written to govern us, so we can’t interact with them because we’re a nonprofit, and we can't have that government overreach and that government interference.” A hearing was scheduled for May 2.

The library submitted its budget proposal to the BOS in February of this year. At its March 4 meeting, the BOS voted 4–1 to not renew the current MOA, effectively terminating the Samuels Library’s county funding as of July 1. Board member Cheryl Cullers represented the dissenting voice among the five supervisors, expressing concern over their actions, and motioned to disband the county library board and set library funding to a referendum. Both motions were denied.

ATTEMPTS TO PRIVATIZE

Attendees enjoying a night of fun at Samuels Public Library's A Taste for Books 2025 fundraiser Photo by Michael Whitlow

Shortly after Hotek responded to the new Warren County Library Board’s accusations in a Samuels Library board special meeting, the county received what it described as an “unsolicited bid” from Library Systems & Services (LS&S), a private, for-profit library management company.

The library withdrew its legal filing in hopes that negotiations could be renewed, and submitted a new MOA, proposed to start July 1. But at the June 2 Special Board Meeting, the County BOS announced that it planned to begin negotiations to transfer control of the library to LS&S under a 10-year, $1,024,000 contract. Ultimately, LS&S withdrew its proposal.

In an open letter to the BOS, the library stated, “We respectfully urge the Board of Supervisors to reconsider the draft MOA submitted in March and to genuinely engage with the widespread community feedback that has been expressed over the past several months. Samuels Public Library—its Trustees and staff—remain committed to the long-term future of library service in Warren County and are eager to move forward in the spirit of cooperation and shared public service.”

Now, without the promise of county funding to sustain library services, the future of Samuels Library remains uncertain.

The community stands by its library, however. In May, Samuels Library launched the Donor Emergency Fund, ultimately raising more than $550,000 from Front Royal and beyond. If or when the library and county come to a resolution, any remaining balance will be transferred to the Samuels Library Endowment account.

“Everybody’s trying to keep this library alive, and they’re donating like crazy,” said Hotek. “We’re surviving and trying to get the [county] government back to some normalcy.”

All eyes are currently on the November election, when two seats on the County BOS will be decided. In the meantime, Samuels Library—the 2024 Virginia Library Association’s Virginia Library of the Year—hopes to sit down with the BOS to reach an agreement on a new MOA. “We made a promise and a commitment to the community that regardless of what the outcome would be by July 1, we would still try our hardest to make sure we’re continuing the same level of service that they’ve been expecting for years,” said Rooney.