Carlson: Libraries should be for research

Highlands County Commissioner Jeff Carlson thinks the three county libraries ought to be used for research, not for entertainment.

Although Carlson is the commission's liaison to the local library board, his idea, expressed in a meeting Tuesday, fell flat with one fellow member of the county commission, and with the library staff.

After a question was posed in the newspaper about how taxpayers want their library dollars spent, library staffers copied and handed out the e-mail address and phone number, and more than two dozen calls and e-mails were received on Thursday and Friday. One agreed with Carlson, 28 were against.

On Friday afternoon, Carlson said he received more than a dozen calls: "Two did not entirely agree; more than a dozen were supportive."

Other commissioners

Commissioner Guy Maxcy also served as the liaison to the library board, and made no bones about his opposition to Carlson's philosophy.

"I believe he means he would like to take the library back into the 1950s and 1960s, probably the 1950s," Maxcy said. "Libraries have come 360 since then."

Carlson's ideas are 180 degrees opposite from Maxcy's: that the public should decide what they want from the library. The library's goals, which include "access to popular materials" and "access to information through technology," were formulated with input from Friends of the Library, which includes hundreds of citizens.

That's why, Maxcy said, children should have access to computers, even if they're just playing games.

"At least they're in the library, and they're not throwing rocks at my windows," Maxcy laughed.

Having said that, though, Maxcy said he didn't want to comment on exactly what services should be offered at the library.

"We are a policy-making board. I don't have a problem with Jeff Carlson. He's going to make a great commissioner. But if he doesn't like the library's policies, then we need to change policies."

What Carlson said

Carlson, a former Sebring City Council member who was elected to the county commission in 2008, attended the Heartland Rural Cooperative board meeting last week and updated fellow commissioners at the end of their Tuesday meeting.

"I wanted to give you my philosophy and where I'm going, since I'm representing the board at these meetings," Carlson said. "I've always viewed libraries as a place to convey knowledge, to learn things.

"I'm not seeing that that direction is being held," Carlson said. At the library co-op meeting last week, there was a motion to allow computer users onto Facebook.

"Currently we have an Internet usage policy at the library where ... computers that are there will not be used for chat rooms and social networking," Carlson said. He voted against the motion, which passed.

"I don't think that's what computers at the library are for," Carlson said. "I think they're there to do research and do other things.

"I think the library system is not focused on what it should be for, and I'm going to continue that process," he informed the commissioners.

"I don't think libraries should be an entertainment center for people," Carlson said.

He doesn't think the library budget should be used to buy 15 copies of the latest John Grisham novel. Actually, Highlands director Mary Myers said, seven are usually purchased.

"I'm going to try to protect that budget," Carlson said. More of the budget should be used for "the latest and greatest solar energy research books for the kids."

The county can't charge for library services, he said. But, he said, "There is a new system where they're going to try to work that out."

"I'm not fighting against the library," he added. "I'm just trying to save budget dollars that should be redirected in the right direction."

"Commissioner Carlson, I hope that during our budget presentation, our budget workshop, that we can get into some of these issues," Commission Chairman Barbara Stewart said after Carlson spoke. "Because I know that the library is one of those items that we're looking at, so we'll look to you for guidance."