Display policy discussion reopened briefly during Pride month at Dayton library
Black holes. Lives of women in the Viking Age. Japanese internment camps in the U.S. during World War II.
These are just some of the topics Dayton Memorial Library worker Laura Hinze has seen catch the eye of library patrons from the display shelf inside the building's front door.
Library board chair Dale Walling resurrected the conversation about the library's display policy - if briefly - after receiving a complaint about a Pride month display at the rural library district in Columbia County this June.
Before taking public comment at a Monday, June 15, meeting, Walling walked back the idea of revisiting the policy and even proposed removing the policy, giving the staff more latitude to determine what books to highlight in displays.
The policy, passed in 2024 shortly after Walling joined the board, restricted displays to materials related to new arrivals, paid holidays and scheduled library programs.
Library Director Ellen Brigham and some board members disagreed with the policy at the time because it restricted displays for heritage and awareness months, beginning with Black History Month in February; seasonal topics like Back to School or Sweater Weather reads; and national reading related events, like Poetry Month in April and Banned Books Week in October. But the policy passed 3-2, and has been in place since.
When he received the complaint from a patron about a Pride display in early June, Walling said he was approaching it like a breach of policy, not trying to single out LGBTQ books or representation, "but I understand completely the timing and optics of that, and how bad it looks," he said.
"When I originally spoke, my attempt was to prevent what happened in the past," Walling said at the meeting.
Prior to the current display policy, the library district faced a year fraught with packed library board meetings; campaigns to move or remove books on topics like race, gender and sexuality; and a petition to shutter the library district altogether.
Since then, monthly board meetings have been relatively quiet. But on hearing that the topic of displays was on the agenda Monday, 55 community members showed up.
"Ironically, you are all here tonight, and I inadvertently created what I was trying to prevent, and again I apologize for that," Walling said.
The agenda item reopened the discussion of whether and where books on gender and sexuality belong in the library, and residents weighed in with a variety of perspectives.
Some shared how access to books helped or could have helped their understanding of their own identity. Others said civic institutions like public libraries should present a variety of views and represent all community members. Some spoke about how books in the library differed from their own personal views on sexuality and evolution, and how displays should be age appropriate. Multiple people asked for a balance of ideas.
The board members didn't pick up the discussion themselves. After public comment, the five-person board unanimously voted to remove the display policy, giving Brigham and her staff the freedom to plan displays.
The policy might still be discussed in the future, Walling said, as the board is revisiting and updating all of the library's policies and procedures.
Hinze, the library worker, said she has seen readers excited to learn the library had books on a topic they loved or be introduced to something new through the ever-changing displays.
"Displays help people get information in a way that they won't automatically go and pick something off the shelves, because people are inherently attracted to the shiny thing … and that's why we try to have a rotating option of different things," Hinze said.
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This story was originally published June 17, 2026 at 10:08 PM.