Grassroots Effort Led by Concerned Parents Leads Director of Samuels Library To Resign and Town Members to Call for Transparency

Front Royal, August 8, 2023—

Hot off the press: 

“We demand that Samuels Public Library cease its operations as an unaccountable non-profit organization. Instead, we insist that it be placed under the control of the Board of Supervisors and transformed into a genuinely public library. This action will help reinstate democracy within the bureaucracy and grant 'We The People' a voice in the management of THEIR library.”

Clean Up Samuels, a grassroots group that sprung into action in early 2023 for the purpose of removing sexually explicit books from the children’s section of Samuels “Public” Library, removing the current staff of said library, and cutting ties with the American Library Association, is now demanding that Samuels “Public” Library be made genuinely public and therefore accountable to the taxpayers who are funding it. Currently, Samuels "Public" Library is actually a private, non-profit institution. The momentum of the highly successful Clean Up Samuels movement has sparked members of the community to ask many questions about the management and funding of the library. Amidst this controversy, Michelle Ross, the library director, resigned in shame.

Details regarding Samuels “Public” Library are pouring in at a breakneck pace. Warren County citizens have started paying attention and speaking up about the following topics that have come under scrutiny: the lack of an MOA for the past two years between the publicly funded library and the Board of Supervisors; the nearly million dollars in liquid assets that the library possesses while also demanding taxpayer funds; alleged illegal meetings; lack of transparency in the review process; and library board members working closely with supporters of Save Samuels. 

Samuels "Public" Library responded to the concerns about pornographic and age-inappropriate books by flatly ignoring them. This was evident in the July 10 Board of Trustees meeting held at the library where a decision was made to keep three of the books in place, and it was evident that the library leaders had not read either the books or the concerned letters. Now that concerns are being raised about management and funding, the library director has responded by resigning. 

Clean Up Samuels, its supporters, and now non-affiliated townspeople, are rightfully and righteously indignant. They are petitioning the Board of Supervisors to bring the library under their control. The citizens of Front Royal and Warren County are making it clear that they want a library that is not taking orders from national organizations such as the ALA, and not managed by a director and board that ignores their input, but rather a library that is accountable to the public and which reflects the community consensus of a county that voted overwhelmingly in favor of Governor Youngkin's parents first agenda. 

To request an interview with a supporter of the leaderless, grassroots movement Clean Up Samuels, contact: cleanupsamuels@gmail.com