The Kenai City Council gave the green light to the Kenai Community Library to accept a federal grant for new health and wellness materials Wednesday, nearly two months after it first postponed the grant amid concerns about taking money from the feds. That decision had many in Kenai calling censorship and catalyzed a fundraiser that brought in thousands in donations for the library.
The money comes from the National Library of Medicine Region 5, run out of the University of Washington. The Kenai Library won $1,500 as part of a Collection Equity Outreach Award, geared toward funding library collections nationwide that focus on health equity.
The library asked for the city council's approval to accept the funds at an October meeting. But some members of the council said they were concerned about the organization awarding the funding. They asked Kenai librarian Katja Wolfe to provide a list of titles she planned to buy with the grant.
Council member Teea Winger was among those who expressed worries when the money was first on the table. She said Wednesday her concerns had since been assuaged.
"We spent countless hours looking into this process, the application. And going forth, with all the information that we were provided, I feel comfortable in accepting this and I will be supporting this,” Winger said.
Winger had raised concerns that the National Library of Medicine site was full of information related to COVID-19 rather than the topics of the books the library would receive. Councilmember Deborah Sounart said she was worried last month whether the grant required picking titles from a government-provided list or whether accepting money would indicate that “the library has not met the needs of a certain group of people.” She said research she did since assured her there would be no strings attached.
Barb Christian is treasurer of the Friends of the Kenai Community Library, the library’s fundraising arm. She told the council it was important to let the city librarian do her job.
“I have seen – well, not exactly a flood – but many more donations than we usually receive in the time period have come in since this issue arose," she said. "And all of them have been accompanied by comments that they want the library to be a source of a variety of information.”
A fundraiser that arose in response to the council’s decision last October brought in over $15,000 for the Friends of the Kenai Community Library. City Manager Paul Ostrander said Wednesday that money could be used for any purpose to benefit the library.
Wolfe did not send a list of titles to the council ahead of this week’s vote. All members of the council voted "yes" on accepting the grant this time around.
