Romance novelist Nora Roberts donates $50K to Jamestown Township's Patmos Library
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JAMESTOWN TWP. — Romance novelist Nora Roberts has donated $50,000 to support a library in Jamestown Township that has faced pushback from its community over keeping LGBTQ books in the stacks.
More:National attention as Jamestown Township library millage fails over LGBTQ books
More:Jamestown Township library board to try millage again in November
The Jamestown Township Library board confirmed the donation to a GoFundMe account. Roberts’ publicist told WOOD TV-8 the $50,000 was the maximum donation allowed by GoFundMe, but added Roberts said library leaders could reach out to her if they need more.
In August, Jamestown Township voters rejected a millage that provides about 85 percent of the Patmos Library’s funding. Community members said they were unhappy the library has books that deal with LGBTQ issues. The library says it has about 90 such pieces of material out of a total inventory of about 67,000.
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The library board said in a Monday email to WOOD TV-8 that Roberts’ donation, along with those of thousands of other donors, reinforces the board's position of not pulling LGBTQ books from its shelves.
The library will try again to get its millage renewal passed on the Nov. 8 ballot.
“We are confident we will have a record number of 'yes' voters (turn out). ... Thus sending a message to the Jamestown conservatives that our community want(s) our Patmos Library doors to remain open and ALL books to remain on our shelves — not removed or hidden,” the board said.
Leaders have said without the millage, the library will likely have to close.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Romance novelist Nora Roberts donates $50K to Jamestown Township's Patmos Library
