The terms “equity” and “equitable access” in FVRLibraries’ five-year strategic plan caused so much debate at last month’s meeting that the library district’s trustees decided to have a second reading of the plan in January instead of this month as planned.

The library district has been working on a new five-year strategic plan since April with an advisory committee that includes district trustees, library staff, educators, local government officials, a Cowlitz Indian Tribe representative and others.

During the trustees’ Nov. 17 meeting at the Battle Ground Community Library, Lisa Keohokalole Schauer and Cadie Dye of PointNorth Consulting presented a draft of the plan, which included a mission statement that declared: “We champion equitable access to literacy and lifelong learning for s

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