[Michlib-l] Would like feedback on ideas for policy revisions

[AD Jeffrey Babbitt]

I have been rewriting some policies and including some admittedly controversial ideas and wanted to share them broadly for feedback from those more experienced and less impulsive than myself. (Keep in mind, the excerpts below come from policies not yet approved by the Board and so not currently in effect.) Although I stand behind these edits fully at the moment and will defend them, I recognize that I am not always right and that the policy changes buck tradition and possibly ALA guidance. So, please, if you have introduced changes like these or if you have thoughts on the substance or form or correctness of the policy excerpts below, please share. 

from Dorr Township Library Programming Policy draft, positioned between the established "no exclusion because of controversy" and "library sponsorship does not constitute endorsement": 

The Library retains the right to decline to hire presenters or run programs based on the implicit excluding effect such a program or presentation would have on some members of the Community. For example, we would not host the Ku Klux Klan for a program on race relations, due to their history of violent opposition to marginalized groups. Our exclusion of such presenters and programs would not be due to any controversy but based on the reasonable expectation that such marginalized groups would feel unsafe and unwelcome at the Library and self-exclude as a consequence of the presenters’ physical presence. 

from Dorr Township Patron Behavior Policy draft: 

The wearing or carrying of slogans or symbols ( e.g. , a Nazi swastika) that can be reasonably interpreted due to historical associations as a risk of threat to any individual on the basis of race, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, disability status, or any other identity-defining characteristic is prohibited inside the Library. Such articles may be worn or carried without interference, as in a public protest, outside the building. Patrons wearing such articles will be required to render them non-visible for the duration of their visit inside the Library building. Patrons carrying signs or other objects containing such slogans and/or symbols will be required to leave them outside the building if they choose to enter the building. 

Jeffrey Babbitt, MLIS 
Director 
Dorr Township Library 
1804 Sunset Dr. 
Dorr, MI 49323 
616-681-9678 (o) 
269-598-6929 (m) 
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