Library annual report highlights programs; public speaker calls staff performance ‘harassment’ over wearable art show

Deborah Simon told the Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly on March 10 that she objected to material she said was marketed to minors and to library staff's public actions, calling some responses to her use of the library's request-for-reconsideration policy "harassment." Simon said she spent more than three years on the Ketchikan Public Library advisory board and that the library's 2024 annual report included references to a wearable art performance she found objectionable.

The allegation prompted discussion and questions from assembly members during the meeting's public-comment period and later during the library director's presentation. Pat Tully, director of the Ketchikan Public Library, summarized highlights from the library's 2024 annual report and described staff and program activity for the year.

Tully said the library offered 379 programs in 2024, added digital streaming services including Comics Plus, Kanopy and Freegal Music, and recently launched Hoopla for on-demand films and e-books. She noted personnel changes, outreach and partners: promotions after one retirement, a new part-time library assistant and celebrations of staff milestones. Tully also said outreach services worked with KPU Telecommunications on senior tech-time events and that the library partnered with 36 local organizations in 2024.

"We wanted to celebrate doing what we do," Tully told the assembly in response to questions about the wearable art performance and whether staff expression was personal or employer-directed. She said the performances were professional expression by librarians and not intended to target individual residents. Tully also said the library removed a reference to the wearable art performance from the annual report after questions from city council members.

Assembly members asked about year-over-year changes shown in the report: visitors, outreach visits and digital checkouts. Tully said digital checkouts rose about 14 percent and wireless users increased, while outreach facility visits declined in 2024 versus 2023; she said staff would follow up with details about the causes of that change. The library also reported an increase in outreach home visits and deliveries.

Tully told the assembly the library has seen more unhoused residents since a low-barrier homeless shelter closed in May; most follow the code of conduct but a few do not, and staff are tracking the issue while exploring ways to serve unhoused patrons without compromising services for others.

Assembly members and residents debated whether the wearable art performance'which included costumes made from library materials and a staged banner referencing a well-known protest phrase'should have been described in a government report and whether employee or professional expression can be limited when it disrupts operations. Tully and others said the pieces were meant as a response to a nationwide rise in book challenges and as a statement about the work librarians do.

The assembly did not take formal action on the library report at the meeting. Tully said the 2024 annual report is available on the library website and that staff will follow up with additional details requested by assembly members.

For context: the public comments about the library and the director's presentation occurred during the assembly's public comment period and the scheduled reports section of the March 10 meeting.