I love the Rockingham Free Public Library. I have been an active user at RFPL for 53 years. I can remember the day I got my library card, back when children had to be able to sign their names to acquire them. That day was very important to me, and I know how lucky we are to have such a vibrant, beautiful, functioning library.
There have been an ongoing issues with the RFPL for many months now, starting with the renovation and, more recently, with the dismissal of the RFPL director, Célina Houlné. Ms. Houlné feels she has been wrongly terminated and has been hard at work organizing community support.
I feel that there are several problems here. The issue of dismissal may be at the core, but there are also rumblings in the community about finger-pointing, vendettas, personal and unprofessional behavior, meanness, and scores to settle. Certain members of the library Board of Trustees who were elected have been labeled “Gang of Four” and “Ladies Who Lunch” and described as “spiteful” or “mean-spirited.”
Some of the name calling is done on social media. These people would be the first to file bullying charges if this kind of attention was directed at their children, especially on a social-media forum.