On March 19, the Washoe County Board of Commissioners selected retired educator Tami Ruf to fill the vacant spot on the Washoe County Library Board of Trustees.
Ruf worked for the Washoe County School District as a social studies teacher at Sparks Middle School and Reed High School, and as a librarian at North Valleys High School, until she retired in 2019.
The pool of applicants was unusually large. Among the 87 hopefuls were several members of the local art and music community, and Washoe County Republican Party Chairman Bruce Parks.
As the RN&R’s Delaney Uronen wrote last December: “The Washoe County Library System had a tumultuous 2023, with right-wing organizers bringing people out to complain about drag queen story hour and books with LGBTQ+ and diversity-related themes.” LGBTQ+ allies have been showing up in full force as well, to defend these library programs and materials.
During the March 19 meeting, several applicants and community members spoke at the podium, on both sides of what remains a steep divide. Here are a few excerpts:
Tami Ruf, on libraries: “They are … places where everyone is welcome through the door and encouraged to find what they’re looking for—a place to learn, a place to create, a place to expand your mind.”
Nathan Robison, an engineer and business owner who mentioned that two of his three adult children are gay or nonbinary: “I’m thinking of the many LGBTQ kids who do not have it as easy as mine do, who are neurodivergent or hard to deal with or just weird. They can have a really hard time in school. … There’s a movement out there to pretend, I think maybe wish, maybe even force these types of kids not to exist. I think we should resist that. Library censorship is abhorrent in a free society.”
Janet Butcher: “(The library) is not the place for social engineering. … Nobody is trying to keep anybody out of the library. People are asking to have sexual books with pictures—they want their kids to be exposed to that? Buy the damn books. Expose your kids. But it doesn’t need to be at eye level for children. When they keep talking about this book banning thing, it’s a lie.”
The commissioners voted for three finalists—Manny Becerra, Marie Rodriguez and Tami Ruf. They then voted in Ruf.
Her term on the library board runs through June 30, 2025.