In response to moves by Post Falls library, consortium for interlibrary loans in North Idaho dissolves

Members of North Idaho’s interlibrary loan consortium on Wednesday officially dissolved the Cooperative Information Network that allowed materials to be shared.

After a vote with 14 libraries saying yes, one saying no and another abstaining, libraries will no longer share books between each other freely at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. An online collection with almost 24,000 e-books and audio books shared between the libraries is also up in the air.

J.D. Smithson, spokesperson for the Coeur d’Alene Public Library, said the dissolution was spurred by concerns of a potential lawsuit between the Community Library Network, a seven-library district headquartered in Post Falls, and the Cooperative Information Network.

The potential lawsuit comes from the Community Library Network’s interpretation of Idaho’s Children’s School and Library Protection Act. The law that went into effect last year requires libraries to relocate materials seen as harmful to minors to adult-only sections.

In response to the law, the Community Library Network restricted minors from accessing the network’s catalog in January, a decision with which some members in the Cooperative Information Network disagreed.

On Wednesday, most of the libraries voted yes, with the only exceptions being the library from Clarkia, Idaho, a small unincorporated community that had a population of 64, according to a 2020 U.S. Census, voting no and the Community Library Network abstaining.

Megan Ward, spokesperson for the Community Library Network, declined to state the motivation behind abstaining from the dissolution, but did say they’ll try to make it so patrons are affected the least amount possible.

“We’ll be letting our patrons know what to expect and how we’re going to shift our collection in order to make sure that what they’re used to isn’t disrupted,” Ward said.

Smithson said that although libraries in the network will no longer share their materials, services like the interlibrary loan will still be available to receive books not in their local libraries.

Smithson also said the interlibrary loan system is limited because if it has a book but it’s checked out, it can’t be mailed another copy – a service that the Cooperative Information Network used to provide.

“There are changes coming,” Smithson said. “There’s a lot of work and a lot of maneuvering to be done by all of the libraries involved.”

The latter half of the meeting was spent discussing possible ways to fairly split the network’s materials and the almost $13,000 collective fund, but a definitive solution was not found.

Ward said further meetings to discuss the issue are possible but not planned, and that the network will have to work with ByWater Solutions, the software company overseeing the digital materials, to plan the split.

While how this will directly affect libraries and their patrons at the end of September is vague, Ward said webpages will be made to help answer questions and that patrons can also feel free to contact her and other libraries to ask how things will change.