Library administrator laid off; residents fight over LGBTQ+ books in Susquehanna County By Isabela Weiss | WVIA News | Report for America Published January 28, 2025 at 7:03 PM EST Hundreds of people on Monday protested the termination of the Susquehanna County Library’s administrator and demanded for the protection of LGBTQ+ books. A majority argued that Administrator/Librarian Kristina Ely’s termination was a political move to enable library board members censor books they feel are inappropriate or offensive. On Dec. 16, the Board of Trustees of the Susquehanna County Historical Society and the Free Library Association laid off Ely by a 6-4 vote during an executive session. Their decision sent shockwaves through the board, as several members were absent that day due to illness. Two of the absent members and the four who voted to retain Ely resigned from the board over the following weeks. President Stephen Spero also resigned effective Jan. 27.
The people who voted to fire the librarian were a dairy farm owner, a guy who has a Linkedin & Facebook that says he’s the dean at the Susquehanna County technical school, the owner of an online retail store, the mayor of Hallstead Borough, an archaeologist who speaks at Landowners association’s meetings and ran for school board, and one other person. In a very sparsely populated rural county, that’s a lot of clout going on there.
The acting librarian is apparently a dairy farm owner, against regulations as she “does not have the required master’s degree” and as a result they “could lose out on $280,000 in state aid because of its decision” – to fire the librarian. It’s pretty amazing they’re willing to risk that kind of funding, which looks to be about a quarter of their revenue for 2023. They were willing to so blatantly push through votes when members are out sick based on extremist right-wing ideology. Almost makes you wonder if there’s more going on than just right-wing extremism.