Pinching pennies while propping up poetry
Libraries cry poor while funding non-core services
Our libraries claim they are bracing for budget cuts—but still fund poetry readings in tattoo parlors and identity-based programming. If money’s tight, why aren’t core library services the priority?
North Olympic Library System (NOLS) officials are warning the public about possible funding reductions. “Blind and low vision Clallam County residents may have reduced access to books in braille,” said NOLS Executive Director Noah Glaude in a recent email to patrons.
But while sounding the alarm over money, Clallam County’s libraries continue spending public and nonprofit dollars on niche programming that many taxpayers might not consider essential.
Among the most visible examples is the Clallam County Poet Laureate program—launched by County Commissioner Mark Ozias in September 2022. The position is funded with $10,000 in public and nonprofit money over a two-year term. Originally, Clallam County taxpayers footed the entire bill, but the cost is now shared with the North Olympic Library Foundation, NOLS’s own fundraising arm.
The Poet Laureate hosts readings and workshops not just at libraries and bookstores, but at places like tattoo parlors—events heavily promoted by NOLS using public resources. Meanwhile, library officials continue to claim financial hardship.
At the same time, the library promotes programming that has little to do with lending books or providing computer access—core services the public relies on. Instead, NOLS highlights incorporating Native American wellness into daily life, a Pride Family Dance Party, and a series of “equity and inclusion” initiatives that absorb staff time, facility space, and taxpayer-funded promotion.
These initiatives include staff training on “cultural inclusivity,” revamping library collections to reflect “diverse experiences,” and marketing campaigns around events like LGBTQIA+ Pride Month and International Transgender Day of Visibility. In one example, the Port Angeles branch prominently displayed titles like He/She/They and Beyond the Gender Binary
To top it off, the library uses public channels to issue political statements, such as:
“The North Olympic Library System acknowledges that the lands on which we live and gather are the appropriated homelands of Indigenous Peoples.
None of these activities relate to NOLS’s core mission—yet they remain protected even as leadership claims budget tightening is necessary.
While Clallam County doesn’t directly fund NOLS operations, it does continue to bankroll the Poet Laureate program, which the library system supports with event space, staff time, and promotional efforts. If spending cuts are really on the horizon, taxpayers have every right to ask: Why are luxury programs spared, while core services hang in the balance?
If NOLS wants to be taken seriously about budget concerns, it should start by trimming the fat—beginning with the tattoo parlor poetry readings.
You all realize that your taxes continue to be increased at the same rate that these extraneous groups, parties, liberal events and parades continue to be grant funded? There is only one pot of money, and it is divvyed up amongst those writing the grants who make it appear to be for one thing...and inevitably wind up being for several others. Creative financing and you're the bank. The very same reason why bills before our political parties are hundreds, if not thousands, of pages long. They bury the truth in a bundle of words and no one reads the whole book.
As for the tribes, they can either choose to be sovereign and autonomous, or they can continue demanding handouts and 'reparations'. As it stands, it looks like double dipping and hypocrisy.
Government funded entities, more focused on their own agendas, clearly understand the art of funding and public sentiment/support. They'll fund their pet projects with forced taxpayer dollars (taxes), but feign poverty with projects with wide public support and make taxpayers decide whether to approve those projects via levies.
A classic, when I lived in another county, was their medic vs needle exchange program. The council happily spent taxpayer dollars on the needle exchange program citing X, Y, and Z reasons, but forced the funding of the Medic One program to a vote of the people. Those levies always passed because everyone wants the assurance of life safety. Had they flipped it, funded the Medic One program, and put the needle exchange program to a vote one could clearly envision the majority of the voters might not approve raising their taxes for something they wouldn't perceive a benefit for.