For Tewksbury, I was apparently wrong on both counts. Their voting was on April 5th, and an override was not on the ballot (I even called their Town Clerk’s office to confirm, and she said she got calls all day Saturday from residents asking why the override question was not on the ballot).

Their main contests were for Town officials, and from reading news reports, it looks like an override played a large role in the candidates’ platforms.

Also, since this post I’ve talked to a librarian at the Tewksbury Library, who said that privatization isn’t nearly the immediate threat news reports made it out to be. It is one possibility being discussed, but she said the Town has many options before the situation ever comes to that.

LSSI is a library management outsourcing company. LSSI operates public libraries in accordance with applicable statutes and library policies set by their respective library boards and officials. We uphold privacy laws and library policies like any other staff.

LSSI does not privatize libraries; it does not purchase the assets of the public libraries that it operates. Their library collections and buildings belong to their communities–as do their library policies.

Ronald Dubberly
President of Public Library Operations
Library Systems & Services, LLC

It’s been suggested that since privatized libraries are still funded (in part) by tax dollars, then privacy laws will still apply. I don’t know if that’s true, though - school and public university libraries are funded by tax dollars, yet I think their privacy and censorship rules are inherited from their institution.

I wrote to LSSI to ask how they handle patron privacy, and will post (with their permission) their answer here if I receive one.

Also, what about censorship? If a library is private and for-profit, isn’t it possible that the management might have a vested interest in concealing certain information from the public and therefore compromise the industry line against censorship?