Greenville County Library System committee votes to eliminate themed displays. What to know.

Greenville County Library System’s Operations Committee voted to remove all library displays during a meeting on Friday, Oct. 13.

Of the five-person committee, Elizabeth Collins, Marcia Moston and Kristen Odom all voted in favor. Brian Aufmuth represented the lone vote opposing the drafted policy, citing concerns that it felt as if the policy was "micromanaging" staff. Bill Pinkston abstained.

The policy, written by Greenville County Library System Executive Director Beverly James and other staff members, would eradicate displays altogether ― unless concerning “paid holidays observed by both Greenville County Government and the Greenville County Library System.”

"The library's administrative team has decided that themed displays can be a liability for the library and are not a library necessity. That is reflected in the policy current before this committee," said Bill Pinkston, chair of the GCLS Operations Committee.

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Even then, the executive director could remove any material from a display “if he/she determines the material is overtly political, provocative, inappropriate or not relevant to the respective holiday.”

The draft also made edits to informational postings. If approved by GCLS Board, only “informational items supplied or authorized by the Library System Executive Director or their designee may be displayed” on bulletin boards, foyer cases or windows.

As reported previously by Greenville News, in April, the Board mandated a policy requiring branches to ask for permission to put up displays if they promoted certain regulated materials. In June, GCLS asked the Travelers Rest branch staff to remove a display that read “All Y’all/ It Takes a Village to Make a Library” with book covers titles like Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” and Tennessee Williams “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”

Later, on June 26, the Board decided to give libraries a week before they remove Pride Month-related displays, at which point, Pride Month would be over. They then gave themselves three months to brainstorm a display policy. The TR branch manager replaced the display with a Pride display from last year, which said “Read with Pride.” When asked to take it down, the manager refused.

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However getting to the decision to send the policy’s revision to the full board was tricky, as each board member held their own view on displays and their role in GCLS libraries.

“I asked our library staff to research if there was another library system that had eliminated themed displays. They did not find any. In other words, we appear to be the first to eliminate theme displays,” Pinkston said. “Are we blazing a trail that others will soon follow? Or are we overreacting to a containable problem?”

Board member Brian Aufmuth had concerns about the policy.

“I think themed displays are very important to the library,” he said. “I think they bring the creativity and an energy to the library.”

However, other members of the operations committee felt it was a good solution to at least send to the full board for further review.

“I don't see this as a long-term solution for displays, but I'm willing to support it as something that the library director has requested that she thinks is something she can work with, while we look into something better,” Board member Elizabeth Collins said.

Savannah Moss covers Greenville County politics and growth & development for the Greenville News. Reach her via email at smoss@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Greenville County Library Committee votes to eliminate themed displays