LANCASTER, Pa. — Board members in one Lancaster County township voted against the reinstatement of a donation to the Lancaster Public Library after a controversial event raised community concerns.
The donation debate began in April, following a drag queen story hour hosted by the Lancaster Public Library one month earlier. The library was forced to cancel the event after receiving bomb threats regarding the event. Police were also called to investigate a suspicious package, which they found to contain coloring books.
In a Dec. 4 meeting, East Hempfield Township’s Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to withhold $26,700 in funding from Lancaster Public Library for 2024, stating the library had not promised that it wouldn’t try to host another drag queen story hour in the future.
“We wanted to ensure that the programs remain non-partisan [and] focus on literacy, not controversial events, such as drag queen story hour. Just get back to the basics of what the library does so well,” stated Scott Wiglesworth, an East Hempfield board member.
Lissa Holland, the library’s executive director countered that libraries play a vital role in providing diverse viewpoints and fostering inclusivity.
“Our basic mission is to provide various viewpoints of information… to make sure that everyone feels welcomed and that they are represented,” she emphasized.
The library is not funded by the government, which Holland says puts the burden on the library to find funding.
“We serve about 40 percent of the county so we have 14 municipalities [and] we do depend on all of them to fund us,” Holland said, adding that the uncertainty can be stressful and scary.
That fear was heightened this year after Manor and East Hempfield Townships as well as Mountville Borough threatened to pull their funding. Mountville Borough reinstated its donation to the library under the condition that the funds go directly toward the Mountville branch of the Lancaster Public Library.
The library was able to raise approximately $133,000 during the community donation event ExtraGive this year, breaking a new record for the library. There were 1270 donors who contributed, which Holland says speaks volumes to the amount of community support the institution has. However, even with help from the community Holland says it won’t be enough to cover their financial shortfalls this year as their budget relies on the yearly donations from local municipalities.
Efforts are being made on both sides to reach a compromise, as the ongoing funding uncertainty threatens to affect library programming and resources available to the community. The East Hempfield Board has indicated they will revisit their financial contributions in a future meeting.
“My hope is that we can find a way to continue forward with the library,” Wiglesworth said.
“Wouldn’t it be great to have 100 percent support and not have the community divided in half?”
Should the funding cuts continue, library officials caution that it will be the community members, who face the consequences.
“Yes, we’ll have some hardship, but it gets passed down to our end users,” Holland stated.