Library Advisory Board Appointments

Today, we are going to talk about something that rarely gets talked about... the Library Advisory Board.

Why this... well for one, the board is picking 5 new people tomorrow to serve on the LAB.... and two... I was at a volleyball tournament all day with the family and the Superbowl last night... so did not have time to write anything last night, so writing this morning on something "easy".

I say "easy" because this topic recently has been pretty charged. Remember it was not too long ago when commissioners threw around the idea of allowing citizens to submit display ideas.

Glad we walked back from that a bit.

For those not familiar... the LAB is an advisory board. They make no binding decisions. They make recommendations to the Library Governing Body, which consists of all 5 commissioner and one representative from each city, who then make the final decision. These are citizens who volunteer their time to help their community and help the elected officials make decisions.

Also, why is this board 9 members? Seems like a large board for this type of thing. But I digress.

Tomorrow the board will review applications to fill 5 spots on the LAB. Two spots are vacant and 3 are expiring terms. The current roster for the LAB includes the following people and when their term expires. The * indicates their term is up and the seat is available for appointment if they are not re-appointed.

• Lorraine Benefield - 1/31/2027
• Robert Bramlette - 1/31/2026 *
• Rhys Campbell - 1/31/2027
• Lenora Nelson - 1/31/2026 *
• Katie Myers - 1/31/2027
• Edith A Ramlow - 1/31/2026 *
• Justin Strickland - 1/31/2027

Here are the applicants for the 5 positions and the application they submitted:

Rebecca Beattie - Resides in District 4

Janet Borton - Resides in District 2

Robert Bramlette - Resides in District 5

Laura Gatling-Wright - Resides in District 1

Elaine Kleid - Resides in District 2

John Labriola - Resides in District 5

Denise Martinez - Resides in District 2

Steve Moline - Resides in District 5

Terry Morriston - Resides in District 3

Gordon Myhre - Resides in District 4

Lenora Nelson - Resides in District 4

Karen O'Brien - Resides in District 5

Virginia Owen - Resides in District 1

James Pirotta - Resides in District 2

Edith Ramlow - Resides in District 4

Lala Sanders - Resides in District 5

Far too often this position gets politicalized. These are NOT political seats. They do not indicate what political party they are from. As such, I am not going to look up their voter registration to see what they are registered as. I will be looking at what they used in their application and how that fits with the other applicants and those whose terms did not expire.

Also, keep in mind that this board does not make final decisions, unless the governing body (elected officials) give them that ability. To my knowledge, they have not, although, the idea presented during the library display discussion would have given them the ability to sign off on the displays... but the LGB decided against that route, for now.

Of the current members:

• Justin Strickland is a pastor. He resides in District 2.
• Rhys Campbell is a network engineer for Verizon. He resides in District 1.
• Katie Myers is the Director of Communications at HCA. She resides in District 4.
• Lorraine Benefield is retired and worked for Edward Jones and 1st Church of God. She resides in District 5.

My thinking on board positions like this is that we need a bit of diversity. We want a mix of different backgrounds, experiences and so on to make up a board that will discuss things across a wide range of topics. I also feel that different ages should be represented because things that resonate with a younger demographic may not resonate with an older demographic and vice versa.

I also feel that it is important to represent each district as evenly as possible. Even though they provide advice to the LGB which looks at ALL the libraries across the county, we will want to see each district represented by at least one person... same with county commission, school board, etc.

We are currently missing someone from District 3 on this board.

Terry Morriston is the only person who applied from District 3. She also very involved in the Citrus County libraries as she is currently the President of the Friends of the Coastal Region Library. She was a former LAB member from 2019-2020. Currently an Adjunct Professor at Waynesburg University. Also has a degree in Library and Information Sciences.

She would be my pick here and would be a pick if we were tossing the district representation.

For the other 4 seats, we have multiple options from each district from those who applied. Again, my thinking is to try to keep these evenly distributed as possible, unless someone has an off the charts resume that should get in over district representation.

District 1: Laura Gatling-Wright - Masters in Education Leadership with many education endorsements. Works currently as an educator and has worked as a Freelance Media Specialist recently.

District 2: Janet Borton - Currently Retired. Licensed Nursing Home Administrator as well as a Bachelors in Gerontology (study of aging). Volunteer for Meals on Wheels, Friends of Homosassa Library, Adult Literacy.

District 4: Edith Ramlow - Current board Member. Masters in Library and Information Sciences and also a Bachelors in Mass Communication. Manages the library at CF Citrus Campus.

District 5: Robert Bramlette - Current board member and an attorney.

I feel that this list provides a mix of those who are retired to those that are currently working in various fields. It also evenly represents the districts across the county, with only District 3 being "outnumbered"... but there was also only a single applicant.

There would be two people with degrees in education (Laura and Terry) and two with degrees from related to Libraries (Terry and Edith). I feel that education plays a role in the libraries and degrees related to libraries certainly help as well, so a little crossover there works in my opinion.

Two of the nine are retired and I feel there is a good mix of younger/older board members with this makeup.

We shall see who they pick tomorrow!